Middle Boy and I are learning how to communicate with each other and talk about frustrations.

Middle Boy hates any amount of what he deems clutter. He wants to clean it up. Admirable? Yes. Frustrating to me? Yes.

He wanted to clean off the breakfast bar. His method...throw everything on the floor. My method...go through it and put things in piles according to where they belong and then take them there. His method...start every project simultaneously. My method...FINISH a project before starting the next.

We were about to kill each other halfway through the project. So much so that we had to stop and talk about why we were getting so mad when we had the same goal. Ultimately it boiled down to him thinking he wasn't being heard and me feeling threatened because what I was doing wasn't good enough. It occurred to me that this is no different than learning to live with some one once you are married...except we are all three trying to figure it out.

I was actually impressed with our ability to talk it through. Praises for open communication and willingness to participate.