Kids and Lights...

Why can't kids reach up and flip a light switch off on their way out of a room? My dad used to rag on me as a kid about it and I just didn't get it either. I feel like I'm following my kids around all day and turning lights off for them. They just left for school a while ago, I went upstairs and literally turned off every single light we have up there. It probably shouldn't bother me...but it drives me crazy!

or wives. it drives me nuts and my wife just rolls her eyes...

It drives me crazy as hell too, and my damn kid is 20 fucking years old. I come home at night and every, I mean every light is on in the house. WFT, is he scared of the dark? my 8 year old I can understand. That and they won't turn off the tv or playstation either when they are done. I think I am going to have to start handing out ass whippings to get the message accross soon.

I just got a ladder out and unscrewed his light bulb for a couple of days. Not light for a couple of days seemed to make a light go off in his head!!! (Pun intended) Now he cuts off the light when he leaves his room.

I'm so glad I'm not alone here. The following is a true story:

Mrs FBD would leave AT LEAST 1 light on upstairs all day, every day. I would come home from work, go up to change, and the bathroom lights would all be on. There are 8 bulbs above our sink alone.

The little FBD spawn were just as bad. They play in the basement and there are 20 recessed lights in each room down there. Our electric bills were ridiculous.

I chided them about it all the time, to no avail. I decided they can't be trusted so I installed motion sensing wall plates in the basement AND my own goddamn bathroom. I also switched out every single incandescent bulb in the entire house for LEDs or CFLs.

In just one month, I saved over $100 on the electric bill. My bulbs/switches will all be paid off in 5 months.

You can't change people, so it's far easier to do what I did. The switches are great because if they sense no motion in 15 minutes, they shut off.

This is unrelated, but do any of you see a reason why wives can't completely close a drawer or cabinet door? Is it just my crazy ass wife? If you look at her bureau in the bedroom, out of the 12 or so drawers, I'd bet at any given time 9-11 of them are at least partially pulled out. There is no logic to this and it makes me crazy.

If you can close it 90% of the way, why not push it all the way in?

For the cabinets, you can get some Self-closing cabinet hinges and you could pick up some Self-closing drawer slides
Also, you could probably just re-mount the drawers at a slight angle, so they want to close on their own. There are my ideas.

I'm not as passionate about the drawers, because they don't cost me money, but I may consider the drawer slides!!! It's more of a principle thing with her...it's like my daughter being unable to throw dirty clothes in the hamper; they lie all around the hamper, but never IN the hamper. Or my son being unable to rinse toothpaste out of the sink....

Good ideas FBD...

And I find the drawer gripe to be closely related...and amusing. I battle toothpaste in the sink constantly...yuck it drives me mad as well!

Yeah, the toothpaste....and it's not just confined to the sink, it is on the countertop, the mirror...it's like he has a mouth full of it and does the John Belushi zit pop from the animal house food fight.

That crap does not wipe off easily. I used to hang posters on my cinder block dorm walls with it...worked better than any tape.

Yep, Bathroom lights and bedroom lights mostly, but for the love OF GOD, STOP IT!

HAHA is this turning into a spouse/child gripe post? My older one just discovered the joy of turning on/off/on/off/on/off.... I think she picked it up from her cousins that spent the night last weekend. Great.

As for the spouse. Hmm, well let me put it this way. I tell all my single friends, take a good look at your gf/future wife's room. That is what your room will look like when you get married. For me, that means stuff all over the place. Like approaching hoarders level (ok maybe not that much). But yeah, somehow clothes make it off the hanger and out of the dresser and never ever make it to the laundry bin. The floor is much more convenient. lol

Here's another one: Thermostat.

My dad took a quarter from my allowance if he had to turn off a light for me. If he didn't know who left the light on he took a quarter from everyone. If i left a draw/door open i had to open and close it 20 times in a row. If i left toothpaste in the sink I got to clean the bathroom everyday, dirty or not, for a month. If i left my stuff out he was nice enough to throw it away. If i touched the thermostat i got my ass beat (never got why this made him the maddest)

I keep a scrubber at the sink for the toothpaste (my biggest one), my kids have gotten better about cleaning up after themselves because they see the scrubber. If they don't clean it i do and move on, not really worth the fighting. Then again my oldest is 15 and sneaking out of the house to get high/drunk with his buddies and have sex with his girlfriend so i have bigger things to worry about than lights, drawers and toothpaste

being a parent is so much fun...

Quote :

Then again my oldest is 15 and sneaking out of the house to get high/drunk with his buddies and have sex with his girlfriend so i have bigger things to worry about than lights, drawers and toothpaste

Tell me about it.. 16 Year Old girl over here... I may need to seek out Dr. Xanax soon!

I didn't go into the drawers/doors thing because I didn't want to sound like i was that dude from "Sleeping with the Enemy" but I'm glad I'm not alone. My wife is awful about this too.

She's been better since our 4 yr old started making comments like "Why are you so messy mommy?" and "You need to close these drawers when your done Mommy, I could smash my head open on them".



Wonder who planted those things in his head...

obxj wrote:

She's been better since our 4 yr old started making comments like "Why are you so messy mommy?" and "You need to close these drawers when your done Mommy, I could smash my head open on them".



Wonder who planted those things in his head...

Nice way to manipulate your kids... I'll have to keep that in mind for future.

DarkkerDaze wrote:

Quote :

Then again my oldest is 15 and sneaking out of the house to get high/drunk with his buddies and have sex with his girlfriend so i have bigger things to worry about than lights, drawers and toothpaste

Tell me about it.. 16 Year Old girl over here... I may need to seek out Dr. Xanax soon!

I'm dreading my girls getting older, i have two that are 11 and 13

walldoggy wrote:

obxj wrote:

She's been better since our 4 yr old started making comments like "Why are you so messy mommy?" and "You need to close these drawers when your done Mommy, I could smash my head open on them".



Wonder who planted those things in his head...

Nice way to manipulate your kids... I'll have to keep that in mind for future.

My best ever story about that is:

After the movie Signs came out I got my daughter to wake her mom up and say "Mommy there's a monster outside my window can i have a glass of water." I worked over nights at the time and wasn't home. The phone call i got at 3am was priceless.

Boy, you guys have me really excited for my future. I have two girls, a 4 and a 2 year old, and a 2 year old boy and I was already fearing the teen years.

I'm mostly lucky with my wife; she's a clean freak and makes certain that everything is orderly and shut (almost to the point of madness), but she is afraid of the dark. She loves scary movies but she jumps out of her skin for a week after watching one, especially if it was a good movie.

So, yeah, lights are left on at night All Of The Time. I have talked to her over and over again and she rationally understands that there is no need to fear the dark, but if the lights are out she runs to bed because "it's safe." Safe from what, I don't know, because that's where the Boogeyman lives...

Hide under the bed one night and grab her ankles as she tries to get into bed...

Bwahahaha!

My wife and kids leave everything on, I will come home and two tv
Will be on, lights on, ac on with a window open. It drives me crazy. I am turning in to my dad, I need to put a code on the ac control.

I think we all turn into our parents at some point. Scary, huh? Lol

heres the reason why you will turn into your parents. Worth the few minutes it takes to read.
http://www.cracked.com/article_19722_7-scientific-reasons-youll-turn-out-just-like-your-parents.html

This thread is therapeutic! I'm not the only one who is borderline obessive-compulsive with just a touch of ADD. But besides all that, I'm fine!