Parents Go on Strike, Move to Front Yard

[Scooter24]

Cat Barnard sits in her driveway in Enterprise, Fla. Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2004, near the tent where and she and her husband, Harlan slept. The Barnards moved out of the house and set up the tent in the driveway to go on strike because their children, Benjamin, 17, and Kit, 12, refused to do household chores. The parents won't cook, clean or drive their children until they shape up.(AP Photo/Peter Cosgrove)

By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer
ENTERPRISE, Fla. - The dishes, garbage and dirty laundry would pile up for days when Cat and Harlan Barnard's teenage children refused to do their chores. So the Barnards went on strike, moving out of their house and into a domed tent set up in their front driveway. The parents refuse to cook, clean or drive for their children — Benjamin, 17, and Kit, 12 — until they shape up.

"We've tried reverse psychology, upside down psychology, spiral psychology and nothing has motivated them for any length of time," said Cat Barnard, 45, as she sat in a lawn chair at an umbrella-covered table.


The strike took Benjamin and Kit by surprise. They came home from school Monday to find their mother outside with handwritten signs that read "Parents on Strike" and "Seeking Cooperation and Respect!"


Cat Barnard, a stay-at-home mom, and her 56-year-old husband, a government social services worker, decided their children needed to learn about empathy and responsibility.


The Barnards unsuccessfully tried smiley-face charts and withholding allowances to get their children to do chores. They even sought help from a psychologist.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/parents_on_strike

[NC_Nurse]

1. LOL!

That's great, except the kids should be the ones in the tent....

[Anakin Skywalker]

2. This is a sad, sad time

in America when parents are driven to this level of desperation.

[knowbody0]

3. and this is news?

pathetic people raising pathetic people make the headlines.

[Worst Username Ever]

4. You'd think they would at least move the tent onto the grass.

Yeesh.

[MindPilot]

5. Hey parents!! You have a call on the clue phone...

since when does dishes, garbage and dirty laundry piling up for days bother teenagers? All that's going to do is prepare them for college.

[Cats Against Frist]

6. I kind of like this idea

Seems the parents aren't neglectful, and they care about the kids, and they're just trying creative punishment. A 17-year-old boy who can't get up off his butt and help his mom do yardwork deserves a lot more punishment than a TV dinner.

[seriousstan]

7. The kids should be in the tent

and the tent should be in the backyard on the grass. What kind of fool camps on concrete??

[HawkerHurricane]

8. Same kind of fool...

that publicly admits they can't raise their own kids.

[seriousstan]

10. I actually edited that out of my first post

:evilgrin: I couldn't agree more. I read elsewhere that they had tried "reverse psychology, sideways psychology and circular psychology" and nothing worked.

[roguevalley]

9. it never occured to me to be an asshole to my parents. they worked

hard and we did our part. A belt on the butt might not hurt here. honest to god. looks like they had it too damned easy and well. None of the poor kids I grew up with ever acted like this but I remember a lot of well off ones did. maybe when you're wondering where your next meal is coming from, you have better attitudes. Throw the damned kids out the door and sleep in your own bed. This got away from them long ago.

[Iris]

11. Stay at home moms = servant to kids.

This seems to be a trend with stay at home moms - they basically become servants to their children, which is probably easy to handle when they are small, but when they are teenagers, it becomes a real bitch.

[seriousstan]

16. Not with my mom, it wasn't

[Iris]

17. Me, either, but that was 20+ years ago.

It's a whole different ball game now. Women give up their entire lives to shuttle kids from place to place. A lot of them resent it and will ALMOST admit it, others love it b/c they don't want to do anything else, and still others simply seethe until they pull something like this stunt (or have a stroke or something. . .)

[LeftyMom]

18. Ever wonder why suburbia votes republican?

Just read this post again!

Let's not jump to conclusions, there are a lot of reasons mothers choose to parent full time but I've never heard that one. :eyes:

[Iris]

19. Whatever. It's been observed by many people. There's even

a book about it - "The Mommie Myth."

I can't help it if women allow themselves to be duped into a meaningless lifestyle created by the media.

[LeftyMom]

21. Well it must be true, there's a book!

If you think full-time parenting is meaningless, I certainly don't harbor the illusion that I can set you straight. I do ask you to state your opinion in a manner that isn't as patronizing and offensive.

[Iris]

22. I can't.

Because a lot of people who are "full-time parents" (as if any parent is "part-time") are so full of themselves it sickens me.

[guajira]

12. It figures they're from Florida!

Seems like Florida has an inordinate amount of idiots! These 2 "adults" are so stupid, they probably voted for the smirky-jerk.

[seriousstan]

15. It is too late for the belt. Tough love, the removal of privileges

is about all that will work now. I would start with the older one and I am sure the 12 year old will be watching. No TV, no rides. Put the bedroom furniture in storage and reduce their wardrobe to 2 changes of clothes. Mattress on the floor and cold meals on the tables...AT meal time...not in between.

This may sound harsh but then I am not planning on ever having to do this. I am putting the long hours and hard work in the formative years and hoping they won't require "remedial" courses.

[Tsiyu]

13. I think this is hilarious, and some of you are surely sourpusses 2nite!

What an embarassment to those little ungrateful brats. I'll guarantee these parents' actions will shake up other kids, who will get their own chores done in case THEIR parents get any ideas.

I think its a humourous approach to a very common problem. Anyone who tries to tell me their kids were perfect and always clean and neat is really telling me they never had any kids.

[orpupilofnature57]

14. Hate TO QUOTE A repuker BUT TEDDY WAS RIGHT!!!

Or at least like that bald guy Say's, find their currency.

[DS1]

20. I saw footage of what it was like in that house, those rooms

were pretty damn clean! I don't know :wtf: they expect, but shit, if they want their kids to grow up to be a bunch of anal-retentive ass-mongers then more power to them.

I say let them live in their tents, I hope it rains. A lot.

[shesemsmom]

23. What a great idea.

Looking into getting a tent now

[Bunny]

24. I saw this on the Today show this AM.

One thing jumped out at me, and they didn't bring it up until the very end of the interview. The kids are the wife's from a previous marriage - she's only been married to this guy for two years. AND they previously lived in VA, and were in family therapy there.

Is it possible the kids could be reacting to the new stepdad? Not that it excuses any bad behavior on their part, but is it even remotely possible that adjusting to a stepfamily could have caused some of these problems?

I'm watching this, and all ready to condemn the kids, until the very end, when they said they'd only been married for two years. It immediately changed my initial opinion of the situation.