00:00How did you use an UNO reverse to turn your family's rules upside down?
00:03Growing up, my mom had this insane rule called family contribution hours.
00:06Every week, each family member had to contribute 15 hours to household tasks,
00:09community service, or academic achievement.
00:10Sounds reasonable, right?
00:11Wrong.
00:11Mom tracked everything on a giant whiteboard in the kitchen.
00:14Dad got credit for his regular job.
00:15My older sister got credit for her part-time job and volunteer work.
00:18But me?
00:18I had to do actual chores, help neighbors for free,
00:20and maintain perfect grades just to meet my quota.
00:22Dad counted his regular job as his 15 hours.
00:24My sister counted her part-time job plus volunteering.
00:26But I had to do three hours of chores, four hours of yard work for elderly neighbors,
00:30six hours of tutoring my younger cousin, and two hours of reading educational books.
00:33Miss your 15 hours, and you lost everything for the next week.
00:36No phone, no friends, no fun activities.
00:38The catch was mom decided what counted and what didn't.
00:40Dad's work always counted.
00:41Sister's job always counted.
00:42But my hours got rejected for dumb reasons.
00:44Last summer, I spent six hours helping our neighbor move furniture.
00:46Mom said it only counted as two hours because I was just lifting boxes,
00:49not learning a valuable skill.
00:50When I got an A on a math test I studied four hours for,
00:52she said studying didn't count because that's just expected of students.
00:55Meanwhile, dad got full credit for working overtime,
00:57even though he chose to work extra hours for money.
00:59Sister got credit for her retail job, where she mostly stood around folding clothes.
01:02The whole thing was rigged against me.
01:03But mom always said life isn't fair, and I needed to work harder.
01:05That's when I decided to flip the script.
01:07I started tracking mom's contribution hours the same way she tracked hours.
01:10I made my own whiteboard and put it right next to hers in the kitchen.
01:12Every task mom did got evaluated using her own standards.
01:15Cooking dinner only counted if she made something from scratch.
01:17Cheating up frozen meals didn't count as cooking.
01:19Just like she said my microwave mac and cheese didn't count as helping with dinner.
01:22Grocery shopping only counted if she compared prices and used coupons.
01:25Because she always made me research the best deals.
01:27Cleaning got broken down into specific tasks.
01:28Throwing clothes in the washing machine was 15 minutes, not an hour.
01:31Because the machine does the actual work.
01:33Folding laundry was 30 minutes max, just like she timed my chores.
01:35Running the dishwasher didn't count as washing dishes since the machine did everything.
01:39I applied her strictest standards to her own activities.
01:41When she spent two hours watching TV while doing online shopping,
01:44I marked it as zero hours.
01:45Because she always said multitasking meant you weren't focusing properly on either task.
01:48After tracking for a month, mom was averaging about eight hours per week using her own rules.
01:52She was failing to meet the 15-hour requirement she demanded from everyone else.
01:55I wrote down everything with the same obsessive details she used on us.
01:58During our weekly family meeting where mom reviewed everyone's hours,
02:01she started criticizing my hours as usual.
02:03She said I needed to try harder and manage my time better.
02:05That's when I pulled out my tracking sheet and flipped the script on her.
02:07I explained that using her exact standards,
02:08she was consistently falling short of the family contribution requirement.
02:11I showed her week by week how her activities measured up to the criteria she used to judge us.
02:15The room went completely silent as everyone realized what I'd done.
02:17Dad looked uncomfortable because he knew his hours wouldn't hold up to scrutiny either.
02:20Sister started laughing because she could see where this was going.
02:23Mom's face went red and she said,
02:24My tracking was disrespectful and that parents don't follow the same rules as children.
02:27I asked her why parents get different standards when she always told us that rules apply to everyone equally.
02:32She said parenting is work that doesn't show up on a whiteboard.
02:34I pointed out that helping with my cousin's homework was also work that she never gave me full credit for.
02:38After that, mom couldn't justify having different standards for herself,
02:40but she also couldn't meet her own requirements.
02:42Dad admitted the hour tracking was getting ridiculous.
02:44Sister said she was tired of having her job scrutinized when she was already working and going to school.
02:48We ended up scrapping the contribution hours completely.
02:50Now, we just handle chores like a normal family without timing everything and keeping score.
02:54Mom still tries to micromanage sometimes,
02:56but now I just ask if she wants me to start tracking her hours again and she backs off.
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