I Just Don't Want To!

When my youngest son was about seven, I was a single mom. I always put his folded clothes on our open stairway for him to put away. Inevitably he would walk around them to go upstairs. I guess this habit was a family tradition because his older brother and sister did the same thing. By the third time around, however, this “habit” did not fly with me so I told him in no uncertain terms that he would put them away. He told me tearfully that he just didn’t want to. He was not being sassy, but just being truthful.

As he grew up and became a teenager, the same “habit” held true to the cleanliness of his room. When I told him to clean his room, he again told me I just did not understand. He said, “but Mom, I just don’t want to and besides that I like it that way!”

My mother had the same problem with me as do all mothers I am sure getting their children to do things that they do not want to do. I was a bit mouthy to my mother at times and I can remember telling her that when I grew up I would do exactly what I wanted to do and when I wanted to do it. I can also remember her smiling at me and shaking her head as she walked away from me.

I did do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it and where I wanted to do it. I wanted to eat and I wanted money to buy the food, so I had to work, and I had to choose where I wanted to work and on and on. Oh, Mother, I did miss you on your Mother’s Day yesterday. Your words haunt me and probably will forever.