Lock it up!

As I type this, my husband is installing a lock on our bedroom door. Not just your typical push lock that can be easily picked with a bobby pin, no this is an actual KEY lock. And it's really sad it's come to this but desperate times call for desperate measures. My kids have become way too comfortable using my room, my clothing and my makeup. They come in whenever they please, take whatever clothing items they want without asking, use my makeup, take the conditioner out of my shower and don't return it, use hairbrushes, hair dryer and flat iron and leave them out, or with hair covering them. They help themselves to our computers and lay in our bed while using them, or lounge in our bed while watching TV. We've asked nicely for them to ask permission, or to not use things in the first place - example - they have their own clothes, makeup, hair products, bedrooms - but their items are too messy, or too disorganized, or just plain missing because they don't take care of them, so they use mine. They run out of clean clothes because they're too lazy to do laundry, so they just "borrow" mine. Which means I won't see it again for months because it will remain crumpled up on their bedroom floor or will "travel" to their dad's house, in which case I may never see it again. It's maddening and there's only one solution - to disable their access. It's sad that it's come to this, really, they should respect boundaries, take care of their own things, put things away, keep up on their laundry. But instead, they use our room and all it's contents as a crutch.

I will really enjoy coming home to know my bed has remained made, no kids were sitting on it in their dirty school clothes, my computer will not have a DVD in it's drive that I did not watch, my closet won't have empty hangers in it, and my shower will remain stocked. I'm not looking forward to having to carry a key to enter my own room, but it's a small price to pay to send the message - KEEP OUT! I think I deserve one place in the house that is not constantly being messed up by kids. There's nothing wrong with asking to borrow things. And when one does borrow something, one returns it - in good condition. That's a lesson they'll have to learn at someone else's expense. For me, I'm putting it under lock and key.