Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for June 21, 2011

They’re already camping.

Andy’s thinking of de-camping!

The treehouse is better….it’s adult free……

RUN! Quick!

Holly and Andy should ask how much they’re getting paid, otherwise they’re better off staying home and getting a real summer job.

Andy see if you can get a job. Is he old enough to get a job? Oh yes he can mow lawns.

As I tell my kids, this is Holly and Andy’s “payment” for living in the house, eating the food, getting clothed, going on vacation, etc. They need to learn at a certain point that things aren’t free. Work should be a natural part of life, along with play.

This whole plot line bugs. Joan and Wally are the adults who made the decision (oh wait! birth control fail!) to have another kid. All of a sudden deciding that they want some time off and hey, free labor! really is not fair to two kids. Frankly, the job of teenagers is to learn in school and grow up, not to do the jobs of their parents. If Andy and Holly need to pitch in with household chores sometimes that’s fine, but that should be part of a discussion of overall familial responsibilities, not Joan and Wally deciding on their own without even talking to Val.

I have three sisters, and I still look after two of them when I’m not attending classes or going to work.

I think it’s a mistake to have the older kids look after the younger kids. I looked after my younger brothers and they’re still in therapy.

Being the one who had to watch younger siblings while my older one didn’t because mom didn’t ‘trust’ her, I can say I don’t agree with forcing the older kids to watch younger ones for anything other than necessary business. A camping trip does not fall in that category.

I was supposed to start school again today, but I missed my bus.

@andhony; look at it this way: maybe if you hadn’t looked after them they would have needed even more therapy – i.e. maybe you did mitigate things somewhat.

Holly and Andy should use the best line I ever heard a kid say when they were being pressured to watch their younger sibling: “They’re not MY kids – I didn’t choose to have them! Maybe you should have thought about these issues before!”For what it’s worth, I am an only child and never baby-sat anyone ever (young children are obnoxious and smelly) and I understand adult responsibility just fine – and don’t have kids.

I agree that older kids should help. My 4 were born very close together in spite of trying to keep my husband from more- finally had to get his permission to have a tubal because I said we could not afford more. My kids are close in age and have been close in every way- always helping each other and me. We are much closer than many families and I’m even close to their spouses.