So right now there’s two of us in our house; me, middle aged divorced mum, and 20 year old son at university. We’re not in the UK, btw. His term is done, he’s only working about 15 hours a week (hours are hard to come by), which is fine, but he’s gotten really lazy and is not pulling his weight around the house (or garden). I work 32 hours a week & have a shoulder injury so gardening is really, really hard for me.
He is the most polite, well-intentioned person on the planet. But I’m getting seriously fed up with a) having to ask him to do stuff that’s bloody obvious (wash the dishes while I’m at work, mow the lawn) and b) ask him again and again and again and again until he finally does it. He’ll usually say in a soft sad way “I will mum, I’m just not up to it today.” Wtf?! We’ll get up to it! I physically can’t do some of this stuff, plus I’m at work, he’s sleeping till 11:00am then gaming, talking to friends, going for walks.
He says I have “a funny thing” where I can’t relax if I know a job needs to be done, whereas he is very able to put the job in a mental box and slam the lid shut.
Normal 20 year old behaviour? Taking the piss a bit? Male housework blindness?
He does cook his share of dinners, only occasionally needing prodding there (he likes cooking).
Either we live surrounded by metre high grass or he does it, my injury will not support me doing it (which is also really frustrating as I hate asking for help because most people would rather be tied to an anthill than help me out).