Parents Pitch Tent, Move Out Of House To Protest Their Children

[matcom]

<snip>

DELTONA, Fla. -- The dishes, garbage and dirty laundry were piling up and Cat and Harlan Barnard were getting no help from their two children.

After begging and pleading with their 17-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter to help out around the house, the Barnards decided they were fed up. So they went on strike -- and moved out to the front yard.

"This was our last-ditch effort," Cat Barnard said.

Since Monday morning, the Barnards have lived in a tent in their front yard, going inside the house only to use the restroom or shower. The couple sits on lawn chairs and roasts marshmallows over a hibachi.

After his first night in the yard, Harlan Barnard, 56, said he woke up feeling stiff, but liberated.

"It was like I'd done something to take back my little corner of the world," he said.

Their children were confused on the first day when they came home from school. But their son, Ben Barnard, a senior at Deltona High School, said the parental strike is already having consequences.

"It's extremely inconvenient," Ben said. "Every time the phone rings, we have to run outside to give it to them."

http://www.wftv.com/newsofthestrange/3980327/detail.html

[bowens43]

1. If it was me, the kids would be living in the tent.

[Maddy McCall]

2. LOVE this idea!

Teach the brats a little responsibility. :D

[Calvinist Basset]

3. Creative, but . . .

parents shouldn't have to "beg" or "plead" for their kids to take responsibility around the house. When I was growing up, I was "told" to do some things, and others were simply expected of me. It was rare for my parents to "ask" me to do anything, and they never begged or pled!

Sure, it's natural for pre-teens and teens to rebel--I know I did. But it sounds like this household was out of control long before the parents felt it necessary to take such "drastic measures." In fact, I'd have to ask why they inconvenienced themselves by taking the tent. Why not take control of their house, clean it up to their liking, and make the kids stay outside in a tent? Their choice of retaliation is more of a martyr-victim approach than a parents-take-charge solution.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

9. Kids don't respect their parents anymore...

Because the only consequence is grounding, and that shit is easy. Now if I were those parents, the TV would be taken away, their room would be cleaned out except for books and their bed. And when they started helping out, they'd start getting a little back a time. My kids' rooms are gonna be bare if they don't do what I tell them. Most parent just don't let them go out. WOOWOO. Kids can go to their room, get on the net, watch tv, and do whatever. That's not punishment. Remember our bedrooms? THe only stuff in there was toys if we were lucky. Getting sent to my room was depressing. I didn't even have a radio.
Duckie

[flordehinojos]

4. HOW ABOUT PUTTING THE KIDS OUT IN THE TENT?

need a pass to come inside the house?
PICK-UP, CLEAN-UP, GET A PASS!

[StopTheMorans]

8. no shit: sounds like they didn't set boundaries with their kids

early on, and now they're paying the price for it (granted, not all kids are perfect angels all the time; but the line has to be drawn somewhere IMHO...).

[Swamp Rat]

5. Creative parenting

[sam sarrha]

6. when i was 16 i bought a little trailer for $100 and fixed it up and lived

in it till i went to college where i bought a little bigger one with double bed. I had flowers and a little foot high white picket fence around it... i made it look really cute and acceptable and kept it spiffy neat and clean..my parents loved it and never hassled me.

tho i was an Eagle Scout and accomplished Athlete. I had proved my Independence before i got the trailer. and lived in it responsibly..it was really cute. one of the oval ones, a 1954 Rainbow.

[underpants]

7. Harlan pitched a tent

TELL me you weren't fishing for that