To think this isn't being busy?

[EnergyM]

Wake up at 8am
Go on an hour walk
Go to a music lesson
Go to a driving lesson
Revise for an hour
Go to work for 5 hours
Bed at 11pm

Don't want to get into busyness as a competitive sport but am a bit perplexed by the number of people saying they'd consider this as a busy day...

Not judging just find the various responses interesting!

Yes, that's busy.

I think it's quite busy tbh.

Sounds busy to me.

Wow, mine are 'too busy' on muuuuch less than that!

That's busy!

I would call that busy, she should put her washing in the laundry basket, but as for making her bed? who even cares? are you in her room looking at the unmade bed a lot? what else is she not doing around the house that you would like her to?

Also remember all of the headspace that's being taken up by all that learning. Music and driving and several school topics and then having to slog at work thinking about it over and over and then your mum starts telling you to do things at home and not listening and you're panicking but she's telling you you don't know what being busy even is.

It's a lot at 17. She hasn't grown to cope with as much as you do yet.

DD 10 and DS 6 are out of the house 7.5 hours a day and manage to put the washing in the machine (our wash bin) and make their beds.

Did she even ask to be born op?

That's a pretty full day and no you can't compare it to a kid who gets up at 4 30 to do swim training. That's just not a fair comparison. But why the one hour walk?

Of course that’s busy
Focusing on lots of differerent things add in stress about exams etc and I think it’s bollocks not to say it’s busy

Yes that's busy. Not to say that other things couldn't be fitted round them but I wouldn't want to do boring housework either after that (or any other time) so if those jobs got done or not would depend on whether I decided I wanted them done enough to make myself do them right now, rather than put them off or not bother with them at all.

To be fair to her, "making the bed" is a waste of time.

Ha ha cue competitive parenting ‘up at 4am for swim training’ type posts!

That’s a full on day IMo for a teenager.

Yes she could obviously make her bed but if she can’t be bothered then leave it unmade.

She is doing paid work, studying and pursuing interests as well as learning to drive- why sweat the small stuff?

Teenagers do tire- they are metabolically different to adults plus diet isn’t always all that etc so cut her some slack.

Yeah it’s pretty busy, although pleasantly busy rather than rushed off your feet kind of busy. It’s a lot of different activities that require a switch in head space.
No reason she can’t chuck a load of washing on though.

That's one busy day out of seven. I'm assuming she doesn't have driving lessons, music lessons and work every single day. I know applying logic to teenage behaviour is madness, so the best of luck!

Simple rule: if it's not in the laundry basket, it doesn't get washed. This includes bedding.

" She apparently can't put the washing in the wash bin or make her bed "

So her clothes don't get washed when a wash is put on & her bed gets left unmade.

What is the thing about making beds?

I think your teenager is impressive. Revision, music lesson, driving and work. Not having to be cajoled to do these things. I'd only worry about work overall (if too many hours are done) being intrusive on revision time.

So don't do her washing and shut the door on her room so you cannot see her unmade bed.

Yes it is a fairly busy day but if she is at sixth form surely she should be doing more than one hour revision and less than five hours work. The driving and music lesson and walk are optional.

At 17 she is too old for her mum or dad to be running round after her so if she is too lazy to pull her weight at home then I think I would be showing her the consequences of that. No clean clothes and a smelly dirty bed.

I used a weekend day as an example. She's usually at sixth form in the week, but she obviously doesn't have the lessons that she has on a weekend. Seems quite mixed.

The walk is for her own benefit as she doesn't do any other form of exercise so we say she needs to go out for a bit of fresh air at the weekend, I don't think that's unreasonable.

How busy are you OP? It’s exam time, one of the most stressful and important times in a teenager’s life, and it doesn’t last too long. I will happily pick up my son’s pants from his floor when he is doing his A levels.