Disciplining teenagers can be a nightmare. It seems sometimes that they simply never learn. And unfortunately, even the most well-behaved person is bound to spend a few years pushing the boundaries of acceptable behavior in adolescence.
Like many teenagers, Alice Velasquez’s teen daughters flat out ignored her demands that they tidy up their rooms. She tried threatening them with punishment, but even after losing their smartphone privileges, her daughters continued to ignore her until she devised an ingenious plan: Alice took everything from their rooms, including prized possessions. She put it all in trash bags and charged her daughters $25 per bag to buy it back. Her protesting daughters were forced to do the chores around the house that they had previously refused to do in order to earn their belongings back. In one fell swoop, Alice solved the problem of her daughters’ messy rooms, corrected their entitled attitudes, and taught them the value of hard work.
Alice’s method landed her on the television show The Doctors after she posted about it on Facebook. Plenty of people thought her strategy was clever, but some of her Facebook critics thought she had been cruel and even threatened to call child protective services. User Lunar-Luna chimed in, saying, “I’m 15 and I don’t get why I see kids doing chores that’s what my mom dad and maid are for people just need to Learn that is what a f***ing maid is for I’m not cleaning that is nasty your parents and maid should clean not kids.” Sammie Sapphire disagreed, arguing that, “I don’t think this is cruel. Do as you’re told, be clean. NOT that hard. My mom told me she would throw my stuff away and it worked.” Hannah Renee also thought that, “There is absolutely nothing wrong with teaching your kids discipline and rules.” The doctors gave Alice unanimous praise on the television show. They loved her method, arguing that it was a great way to teach her daughters discipline firmly but respectfully.
