[bryanthompson]

Kids are supposed to respect their parents, and it's incredibly disrespectful for him to have noticed the mess then to have told you about it; just taking for granted that you do everything. Not only that, but for him to have just not done it even after you said... The dirty looks he gave when finally doing it... I think you did the right thing. I'd have probably lost it.

I remember myself doing exactly what your son did. Except it was a cat that had thrown up on the kitchen floor. I woke up early and was watching cartoons, got some cerel and noticed the mess. I quickly got what I needed and went back to 'toons. When my dad got up, he noticed the mess and asked if I noticed it. I lied and said that I hadn't, when that would have been totally impossible. He told me somewhat nicely, but forcefully the first time to clean it up... which I promptly put off until the show was over. Then the next show... about 45 minutes later, I got a little bit of a whooping and then cleaned up the mess. I was mad at him, as you'd expect, and tried not to talk to him again. That'll teach him, right? Well... a day goes by and I ended up talking to him again. I probably respected him and his rules more because of it.

You know the importance of discipline. Your wife just knows that it's chaos and it doesn't feel good, and your son just thinks he's getting picked on. You look like the bad guy because you handled it the way someone would if they wanted results.