The big national-media parenting story of the morning stems from a wonderful idea from Cat and Harlan Barnard out of Florida. Seems they got fed up with their kids for not doing chores. So on Monday this week they decided to camp outside and do absolutely nothing on their front lawn till the kids (12 and 17) actually do something. Their house is the usual mess if you do nothing for a few days - dirty clothes, dirty dishes and crap all over the house that doesn't get picked up.

The kids have decided to use their own strategy, and wait a few days and hope the parents give up. Of course, the family is swamped with calls from the media, (the last call I made to them found their "message box full") You can bet this will prompt a show on Dr Phil following up with helpful chore tips while he plugging Family First.

If you can't wait for Dr Phil, here's a few from my book if your kids are still young. I doubt this couple tried early intervention, so it's almost too late. The best bet for them is to use the family dog to clean the floor. One dad told me, ?You need a dog to keep the discarded cheerios eaten.? but he warned ?Get a dog that doesn?t shed or the baby eats the hairballs.? Just be careful of overusing this method?the last thing you want is to have your dog puke all over your nice clean kitchen floor."

Update: Breaking news! There has been some progress, the oldest daughter actually did the laundry for the first time in her life. I will keep you posted.