Tally.

The agreement, signed by Oldest One, reads:

All of [Oldest One's] clothing will be treated properly. Dirty clothes will go into the hamper each night/day. All clean clothes will be in a drawer or hanging on a hanger in the closet. Mom and/or Dad will, at any time and without warning, remove all clothing that is left on the floor of the room OR on the floor of the closet. These items of clothing will be either held in a container to be given to [Middle One] at a later date OR immediately taken to Goodwill for donation. There will be no negotiation on this issue.

In removing clothing from [Oldest One's] room, Mom and Dad will not touch other personal items (papers, toys, etc). They agree not to open any dresser drawers but they will open the closet for a visual inspection.

For the first two weeks, I reminded him that I was taking stuff. He didn’t care. I stopped reminding him.

In the past month, I have removed the following items of clothing from Oldest One’s room. It took him until a few days ago to really notice they were gone – which should tell you how many OTHER items of clothing still remain in his closet and dresser.

5 pairs of jamma pants
1 bathrobe
8 pairs of shorts
8 pairs of pants
6 sweaters / hoodies

and, the kicker, FIFTY-ONE t-shirts.

This morning he lost his shit, people, and there was yelling and crying and stomping. There was DRAMA! MUCH DRAMA! because he couldn’t find something to wear. All of his ‘favourite’ items of clothing are in my room, in a bin, and it would be a travesty if he had to wear something else.

Of course, it begs the question of why, if these are such beloved items, they were on the floor when he already knew the “removing clothing” rule was in place.

Tonight there will be a discussion about this issue – when Coffee is home – and Oldest One will need to decide what he’d like to do about the problem.

This is how we spend our Friday nights around here, people.

All party, all the time..