i didnt read all the previous posts, so excuse me if its been said but i myself am a lazy 14 yr old boy. I dont know if any good advice is going to come out of this but i figured id write from my perspective.
Im a fairly smart kid but i dont like work and i dont do my school work a lotta the time. I manage to get C's due to my test scores though. My parents expect A's and B's though so this doesnt fly. My mom recently put some pretty strict limits on my school work. She took away my computer privelages [im at my dad's house now
] my tv, my video games, and its cold outside so that leaves me with my guitar and my homework. I hate her dearly for this, but i have been doing better in school, she makes me do my homework and makes sure it is done. I can still just not tell her of certain assignments and such but i get B's now and a few A's so that works, for me at least, taking away most everything i do for fun while leaving me with guitar and things that are enjoyable but not mind rotting. She also threatened to make me wear glasses again and give me a burr haircut. Appearance means alot to me but i really hated her saying that.
As far as chores, i hate doing them not just because of doing them but because i feel like my parents [mainly my dad] dont do anything around the house and im cleaning up his mess and such. If you can somehow enforce the ole just put it away when ur done with it... put ur dishes in the dish washer not the sink kinda thing, thats always good. I dont know how thats enforced, never though about it. But if u can get us in the habit of doing it it only takes 10 seconds at a time instead of 10 minutes at once.
also, since u are a step dad u lose a lot of respect and authority points. I always hate it when my step dad tries to tell me to do something. I prefer him to be a friend kinda thing. Depending how long you've known the kids though it may be different. I got my first step dad when i was 12 and i liked him alright as a person but i was old enough to have the pre-teen attitude and not want him to tell me to do anything since he wasnt my father. I think a little money helps on certain chores. money is better than allowance, because it is instant gratification. My step dad recently let me chop wood for 25 cents for a set size. I made about 8 dollars in a half hour. This seems like a lot but it got me mor eused to doing chores and more open to doing more in the future even if for a more reasonable deal that wasnt as much in my favor.
I'm done with my meaningless rant, i hope it helped at least a little
