19 y.o. houseguest from Germany

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Registered: 05-12-2003
19 y.o. houseguest from Germany
Mon, 10-23-2006 - 12:08pm
We've always had extra kids around our house. Our kids know that if their friends need a place to stay, they can stay here. For instance, one friend of my son's practically lives here. He is very courteous and pitches in with picking up. We have had a 19 year-old friend of my son's staying here for the past three weeks. He is in the process of moving to the US from Germany. He used to live here, but moved to Germany for 5 years and is now back. His parents will be moving to NC in 10 days (we live in WI). We were happy to have him come stay with us and for the first two weeks or so, the kids all had a great time with him. Now, though, it is becoming strained. He sleeps in my son's room in the top bunk. My son is growing resentful because the guest isn't very good about putting his clothes away. Yesterday, while the guy was out, my son and his GF put all the guy's clothes in the extra closet for him... just to get the room cleaned up. DS has also complained that the guy stays up late watching TV in the room (we didn't know this until today) and he has to get up for school. DH said he would talk to him about this. The guy has nothing to do during the day, but hasn't really offered to help around the house. He wants to play video games all day; I wouldn't let my kids do this. I have asked him to do little things like take the sheets down to the laundry, hoping he would take the hint and offer to do a little laundry too. DH asked him to help with the yard, but he decided to go to a friend's house. How should we handle this? I feel like if I keep asking him to do things, he will interpret it as being a slave. But jeez, DH and I work all day (DH works at home so maybe the kid interprets this as not working?). I wish he would offer to do a little work around the house; I don't mind asking once in awhile, but feel funny if I have to keep asking. Another thing... he sleeps till like 11:00 in the morning. I think he should get up, go work out and help. The other thing is... so far he doesn't have a plane ticket to meet up with his parents in NC. I wonder when that will occur. I don't know if they are planning on getting settled and then have him come there or what. Any advice?
Deb
Debbie