Does this person live with you??

Do you have someone like this in your house? Someone who has an uncontrollable urge to touch things they know they shouldn't. Someone who can't resist turning the temperature on the fridge up to maximum and the temperature on the freezer to minimum. Someone who turns the burner on the stove to maximum while the rice is cooking and the cook has left the room.

This person is driving me crazier than ever. It's no mystery who that person is in my house. But that person will consistently deny their actions even when they are the only person around at the time.

This is the same person who can't resist a perfectly clean bathroom mirror and has to spit, draw, and otherwise deface any clean surface. The same goes for windows.

And the frustrating part of having this person clean up the mess that they made, is how much they enjoy the cleaning part. Except when asked to do it as a regular chore.

Ah yes, such is the fun life with a child like this. Never a dull moment, never a clean surface, never a frozen ice cube when you need one...

And I'm finding that the other kids are getting more and more frustrated with the offender's behavior too. It's tough sometimes for them to have any kind of empathy when the same behavior is repeated over and over.

It's tough as a parent to maintain an equilibrium with a child with these types of behaviors. I'm getting better at shutting up and walking away. There is really no point in asking "who did this?", cause the offender never admits it, and it's usually very obvious who did it. My usual consequence is more chores with me. "If you make more work for me, I make more work for you." It never deters the offender, but at least the non-offenders see that there is a consequence.