Navigating the tumultuous waters of adolescence is daunting for any parent. Teens go through huge physical and emotional changes that can often lead to mood swings, rebellious behavior, or worse. Sometimes, adults have to tolerate it for years to come.
After Vivian Wood's teenage daughter, Maya refused to clean her bedroom, she knew she had to come up with a plan to shock her daughter into responsibility. Little did she know that her unorthodox approach would change their relationship and their home forever.
Vivian Wood and her 15-year-old daughter Maya lived in New York City. When Maya was born, Vivian hoped that it would fix everything between her and her husband. For the first year, they were united in their desire to be good parents.
However, as Maya grew older, Vivian’s husband Jake became more and more distant and when Maya was two, they finally decided that they couldn’t make it work any longer. Vivian had no idea that her problems were just getting started.
Vivian and Jake got divorced, and Vivian was awarded sole custody of Maya. Jake didn’t have his own apartment and was crashing on friends’ couches, working here and there. Before long, it became apparent that he wasn’t interested in being a part of his toddler’s life.
Vivian was devastated, but she knew that she needed to be strong for her daughter. She could see that Jake was going to do his own thing and Maya was her whole world. She had no idea that one day Jake would be the least of her worries.
Being a single mom was tough for Vivian, but she did her best to make sure her daughter had everything she ever needed. She connected with an amazing network of other single moms who all supported each other.
When Maya was young, things were easier. She loved her mom and she always tried to be a good little girl. But these days, she was finding it a lot harder to connect with Maya. It is mostly because of the age phase Maya is going through. It sure makes it harder to come to a common conclusion with such outbursts of hormones.
Now Maya was 15 and she was definitely going through her grumpy teenager phase. Vivian tried to understand her daughter but she often shut herself in her room, playing on her phone for hours on end. Typical teenage behavior it was and it was like she was pretending to be in a world that does not exist.
The other moms in her group were going through the same thing, trying to support their moody teens and getting a lot of attitude in return. But Vivian was dealing with something that she was sure the other moms weren’t facing. And it was quite troublesome.
Regardless of how much Vivian asked, Maya absolutely refused to clean her room or help around the house. Her room was always a mess, covered in clothes, makeup, wires, old mugs, dirty plates, and more. And she would never listen to Vivian's requests to clean.
When she got home from school, she would chuck her backpack, shoes, and jacket on the floor. Vivian couldn’t work out where her sweet little girl had gone. Why had she been replaced by someone so careless and unhelpful?
Vivian and Maya had epic shouting matches almost daily about the state of her room and their shared apartment. They would always end with Vivian in tears and Maya storming into her room, slamming the door and blasting loud music. It was exhausting.
They always made up afterward, but Vivian always knew it was only a matter of time until the next battle. Little did she know that something was about to drive her to take action.
One day, Vivian had an unexpected day off work and she was excited to spend some time relaxing, kicking back on the sofa with a new book and drinking coffee. It had been ages since she’d had some me-time.
However, when she got home from dropping Maya off at school in the morning, she realized there was no way she was going to be able to have the relaxing day she had envisioned. Maya had made sure of that.
Everywhere Vivian looked, she could see the mess. The sink was full of dirty dishes, laundry was strewn on the floor, and Maya’s things were all over the place. She felt stressed just looking at the state of her home. It made her even more anxious and stressed.
Instead of putting her feet up, she would need to spend the day tidying and cleaning. This was not the kind of day off she thought she wanted but this is what she got without a choice. She was not happy about it. Why was it just her job to make sure they didn’t live in squalor?
While Vivian was on her cleaning mission, she popped into Maya’s room to see if she had any laundry for the wash. The sight that met her eyes was horrifying. Her daughter’s room was in chaos. You could barely see the floor through the piles of clothes, and under her bed, Vivian noticed a pile of dirty dishes that were emitting a horrible rotting smell.
How could her daughter live like this? She headed towards the bed, unable to just leave the dishes there. Then she noticed something that made her blood run cold. She shrieked in surprise. And she felt that she could no longer be quiet or patient about this situation in front of her.
On top of a plate of spaghetti bolognese—pasta they’d eaten for dinner at least a week ago—Vivian spotted something moving. As she got closer, she saw the pasta was covered with green mold. And that was it. The sight of it was enough for her to lose her calm.
But that wasn't the worst part—on the spaghetti, writhing around and nibbling the old food, were two huge cockroaches. Vivian hated cockroaches and she ran out of the room in horror. She couldn't believe the mess Maya had made.
Vivian was devastated. She was shocked that things had gotten so bad. Before she had wanted Maya to take care of her room for her own sake, but now her bad habits were threatening their home with an infestation. Up until now she thought Maya was like this because of her age.
If the cockroaches started breeding, the apartment could be overrun. She shuddered thinking about it. She needed to do something drastic, something that would shock Maya into getting her act together. And that would bring some sense of responsibility in her.
Vivian decided to catch the cockroaches in a little tub, shuddering as she tried to stop them from scuttling away. However, once she’d got them both shut in the container, a plan started to form in her mind. And she thought this plan can help her daughter get back on track.
She was sure that the sight of these horrible little critters would give Maya the wake-up call she needed to get things in order. But she wanted to give Maya one more chance before putting her plan into action. So that she had a chance to do it herself and not by some other force.
When Maya got home, Vivian had a talk with her about cleaning her room, but her daughter was stubborn as usual. “Mom, I'm not cleaning my room! It's my room, and I'll do what I want!” Maya shouted. And here Vivian knew that now it was time to put her plan to execution.
“Okay, sweetheart. You do what you want, but I'll do what I want too, Vivian replied. ”What are you gonna do? Ground me?” Maya yellled, smirking. “Oh, no, dear. I have a surprise trick up my sleeve,” Vivian said. “Yeah right Like what?” Maya scoffed. But Vivian didn’t reply. Maya would see for herself soon enough.
Vivian knew it was time to bring out the big guns. Nothing was getting through to her messy, moody daughter and she was at the end of her tether. It was the only option she was left with in the hopes that it would redeem her daughter. And she would finally see how her behavior is not only self destructive but now a threat to the sanity of the house as well.
She didn’t want to do what she was about to do, but she felt like Maya had given her no choice. When Maya was out meeting friends later that afternoon, Vivian sneaked into her daughter’s room, armed with that little tub. Inside, the cockroaches were crawling around.
Holding the tub at arm's length and wearing her cleaning gloves, Vivian slowly peeled off the lid. She lifted up Maya’s pillow and deposited one of the wriggling roaches underneath. The other one, she tucked under the comforter.
The deed was done. She was confident that this would give Maya the jolt she needed. While some moms might think it was too cruel, Vivian didn’t know what else would work. Now all she needed to do was wait.
Maya came home half an hour later. She dumped her coat and bag on the floor and headed straight to her room. Filled with anticipation, Vivian waited. She knew it wouldn’t be long. As expected, a few minutes later, she heard a piercing scream. Maya rushed out of her room and threw herself into her mom’s arms.
“Mom!” she yelled. “There were huge BUGS in my bed! Ugh!” She had obviously forgotten her mom’s warning that she had a trick up her sleeve. Vivian gave her daughter a big hug and smiled to herself. Now was her chance. Finally the time she was waiting for.
As Maya was recovering from the shock of discovering the cockroaches in her bed, Vivian stroked her hair and explained to her the importance of good hygiene and cleanliness. The cockroaches had been attracted to all the old food in her bedroom and if she continued in the way that she had been, it wouldn’t be long until they were infested.
Maya looked up at her mom with a tear-stained face and said, “Okay, Mom. I’m going to clean up my act, and my room!" And this made Vivian so happy that her happiness knew no bounds. She just wanted to shout and dance. Her daughter is finally getting her act together.
Together, Vivian and Maya deep cleaned Maya’s room. They uncovered even more nasty things buried under piles of clothes and under the bed, and it felt like Maya was seeing her room clearly for the first time.
Vivian felt like they were finally on the same page. Maya was even asking her questions about the best ways to clean, tidy, and organize her stuff. It felt like a breakthrough. Vivian was happy she’d played the cruel trick with the cockroaches. It had had exactly the effect she’d wanted.
Later that evening, they were both exhausted. Vivian ordered pizza for dinner and they shared it in front of a movie. Afterward, Maya took the plates through and started loading the dishwasher. Vivian couldn’t believe her eyes. It was almost a miracle.
Her daughter turned to her and said, "Mom, I’m sorry for the way I’ve been behaving. It wasn’t fair to you and I don’t want any more gross cockroaches coming into our home. I’m going to pull my weight and keep my room clean from now on.” The plan had worked. Her plan worked.
Vivian knew that some of the moms she knew also struggled with getting their teens to help out around the house. Because her little ruse had been so successful, she decided she needed to share it with the world. It was worth sharing, her stubborn messy daughter has managed to get herself together after all.
She had taken videos during the cockroach release and she decided to make a TikTok video to show off her parenting win. Maya didn’t follow her on social media so there was no reason she’d ever see it. Or so she thought.
However, the next morning Vivian woke up to her phone buzzing like mad. She picked it up with bleary eyes, but then sat bolt upright. Her video had more than 50,000 views with more coming in. It had gone viral.
Most parents were praising her for her sly actions, but others were criticizing her parenting techniques for being too cruel. She knew you couldn’t win them all on social media and she was just happy with the views. But then she realized that this could be a problem.
Vivian started to feel worried. Maya was going to see and she’d know exactly what she’d done. She knew she had warned her that she was going to play a trick, but she was sure Maya would never have imagined that her mom would do such a thing.
She started to feel guilty. Maybe she shouldn’t have done something so unpleasant, let alone share it with the world. What had she been thinking? But then again, it had worked so well. All she knew was that Maya was sure to see the video any minute now.
Vivian was right. It wasn’t long before she heard a shriek from Maya’s room and then loud footsteps. Vivian realized her daughter must have seen the TikTok. Seconds later, she burst into her mom’s room. And she knew this is not how she was supposed to find it out.
“MOM! You deliberately put those cockroaches IN MY BED?! And then you posted it on TikTok?! WHAT?! Are you out of your mind? How could you? I hate you!” she screamed. Then she burst into tears and ran out of the room, slamming the door with a bang. She was hurt and Vivian knew she messed up.
Vivian gave her a few minutes to cool off before she went and knocked on the door. She sat on the end of Maya’s now cockroach-free bed and Maya looked at her with hurt in her eyes. She was feeling so down with what just happened and she could not believe what her mother did to her.
She was terrified that her friends and schoolmates would see the TikTok and see her messy room, and she was devastated that her mom could have played such a trick on her. Vivian felt terrible, but she stood by her actions. She needed to explain to Maya why she had done what she had done.
After a long talk, Maya started to forgive her mom for her behavior. She recognized that nothing else her mom had tried had gotten through to her—and she knew that even if the cockroaches hadn’t been in her bed before, they had been under it, so it probably would only have been a matter of time before they got there by themselves.
She wasn’t happy with her mom for sharing images of her room, and Vivian agreed to take the video down. It felt like a good compromise. So they finally came to a mutual agreement and made an understanding.
After they completely made up, Vivian and Maya decided to make a promise to each other. Maya promised her mom that she was going to do more to help around the house and make sure her mom didn’t have to keep nagging her.
Vivian promised that she would listen to Maya’s problems more carefully and support her as much as she could. She remembered how tough things were when she was a teen and she’d lost sight of that a little. They vowed to work as a team to get their apartment to a state that they were both happy with.
Over the next few weeks, Vivian and Maya decided to redecorate. They watched DIY shows together, and both of them made mood boards of their favorite interior design styles. They bonded over these fun activities and that helped them in understanding each other better.
Vivian wanted her daughter to be actively involved in decorating their home. She felt like it would help Maya take pride in keeping it clean and tidy and Maya agreed. They worked hard, learning new skills and working together to get it just right.
By the time they were finished, the apartment was beautiful. They had painted the walls, put up art prints, and filled the rooms with plants and textiles. They had both picked out their favorite pieces from thrift stores and both Maya and Vivian’s taste was equally represented.
Maya couldn’t wait to invite her friends over to see their new pad. Best of all, there wasn’t a cockroach in sight. And that was something new for her. For a change she felt she was doing it all right and was really happy about it and wanted to share this with her friends.
When Vivian looked around on that fateful day off and saw the mess around her, she felt like there was no way of getting her daughter to listen to her. However, with a devious plan involving two horrible bugs, she finally found a way to get through to her.
We hope Maya and Vivian are enjoying living in their beautiful redecorated apartment and continue to communicate openly with each other. We’re sure Vivian will never have to resort to such underhand tactics again.