Winter Break(down)

  1. Kathy M. Newman says:

    Wow. Something to ponder. We definitely aspire to become THAT HO– USE. But you are giving me pause. Maybe we’ll let someone else have it. Look for my kids on your doorstep any minute 🙂

    • suburbanturmoil says:

      Yeah, I keep reminding myself that I’d rather my kids be under my roof than someone else’s anyway, and typically, it’s not too bad. But TWO WEEKS of being That House is exhausting! LOL

  2. Lisa D Acord says:

    Girl. (Said slowly and with much head shaking.) That’s why we have cats.

  3. libertybain says:

    I’ve been THAT HO– USE and it’s not much fun after day 3 – the odd thing is that no one stops to wonder WHY mom is so stressed – it couldn’t possibly be the dishes/shoes/coats/crusts of pizza int he living room/nagging/fighting/refereeing, could it??

    • suburbanturmoil says:

      Seriously! Luckily, Dennis feels my pain and takes over with the kids when he gets home, which isn’t really fair either since HE’S been working all day, too. Today, I woke up with a slight cold and only allowed one neighbor over to play and it’s been HEAVEN. 😉

  4. Carrie says:

    I have been THAT HO– USE for 14 days and it definitely turns into adolescent FRAT HO– USE. Wrappers and trash and legos and remote controls EVERYWHERE. This morning I got out of bed and hung a “NO VISITORS” sign on the front door and drank my coffee in silence. It’s been a wonderful day.

  5. Liz Miller says:

    Mir says the key to being that house is setting boundaries

    My kids know they have to clean up and do their chores before they have guests. They’ve known since they were small that the host is responsible for damage control; they don’t have to make their friends clean up, for example, but if they don’t, they’re responsible for taking care of any mess later on. (Surprise, they’ve all learned to put their dishes in the dishwasher when they’re done. Turns out it’s not hard!) They also know that if their guests are rude, they may no longer be welcome. While my kids are reaping the benefits of a pretty flexible house policy, they’re also learning that a certain measure of cooperation and good behavior is required for these privileges.

    • suburbanturmoil says:

      We have instituted that and the kids have to clean up each morning before they play, but by the end of the day it’s a total mess again. We’re still working on that dishwasher thing, though!

  6. Carrie says:

    My house was THAT house growing up. My parents compensated by keeping a list of names. Everyone who was there a lot damaged *something* eventually, and once you damaged something you were on THE LIST. Each kid on THE LIST was required to show up the first Saturday in April when a huge dump truck arrived and dumped a mountain of mulch. The kids on the list had to spread the mulch among the flower beds all weekend until it was done. Surprisingly, everyone complied. It didn’t make up for the other 51 weekends of chaos, but made my parents feel a bit better.

    • suburbanturmoil says:

      WOW! I love it! I wonder if that would work today. Parents are so sensitive, I bet many of them would refuse to let their kids do it!

  7. Mandy says:

    Been there and done that. What shocked me most about our experience was that our neighbors were perfectly fine letting their kids come to our house and they didn’t even know us. (We had just moved in. Not that we are bad people. You know what I mean. LOL!)

    • suburbanturmoil says:

      The funny thing is that all the kids who’ve been in and out of my house are really sweet and have great parents- I think what’s happening (and my kids have done it, too, this week) is seriously the result of them getting REALLY, REALLY COMFORTABLE here! 😀

  8. Charlotte says:

    I’m not even close to being a mum, but when I was a teenager we lived in That House. When I was growing up, we were pretty poor, so when I was 13 and we came into a bit of money, my parents bought the largest and oldest house in a nice village.
    I’d have my friends over, I’d have boyfriends come to visit me, and even though our house was the meeting point, I don’t think my mum ever knew any more about what was going on with me and relationships than if we hadn’t lived in That House. That said, my mum has met every single one of the guys I’ve dated and so that whole “meeting the parents” thing isn’t a big deal for me at all!

    • suburbanturmoil says:

      The sad thing is that by the time my stepdaughters were teenagers, That House belonged to a newly-divorced guy going through mid-life crisis, who let the kids party and drink and hook up and crash there whenever they wanted.

  9. HollyStormBurge says:

    I KNOW!!!!! I tried to be “That House” and ended up with more than one broken porch railing (kids, hundred-year-old wood CAN NOT–SHOULD NOT be bounced on), fishing line balled up in the trees and on the lawn, our security system stakes in the yard uprooted and signs broken off for fencing equipment, and all gardening, sports equipment, and my husbands tools strewn everywhere! And if I didn’t have popsicles in the freezer, the world would end! I gave up after about a month and made everyone go play in the yard *off* of the porch. My sanity couldn’t take it.

  10. AmandaBrown says:

    LOL I finally was able to read this post, and you are so right. Yes! Husband and I had wanted to be that one house… when I was younger I went to a “That House” and amazing, it was awesome memories.. but when my 14 year old boy (he is homeschooled) brings neighborhood kids around I just want to scream. The running through the house, rules get broken.. By the end of the night my coffee needs to be spiked!

  11. jbkidsco . says:

    omg…we have “that house” too. my favorite is when all of the kids go to one of the other houses ONE time and the mom complains to ME how much they eat…REALLLY??? yes i know how much they eat…they eat at my house EVERY DAY. but at the end of the day…it is good to be “that house”

  12. Nunu Hurt-Doyle says:

    we had “that apartment” for awhile. we moved.

  13. Mary says:

    We’re still That House and our girls are in college. During semester breaks we can’t keep enough food in the house and young people are draped all over the furniture like so many discarded college hoodies. I’m happy to see them all – and very happy when term resumes and they migrate back to school.

  14. my husband and I argue about this…I want to be that house and my husband says, ‘what on earth is wrong with you, we need to get rid of the ones we have, not have more over!” 😀

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