Some Chores
There’s nothing wrong with children having responsibilities of their own to do. You know, something called “chores”. I don’t understand why some parents think that their children shouldn’t have to worry about doing work around the house as if it’s like forced labor or something.
When I was younger I had lots of chores to do. First and most important was my school work. Then came the list of things I had to do each day except Sundays. The type of responsibility grew as I did. I began doing things with my mother or under her supervision like setting the table, or dusting on Saturdays. I moved up to making dinner when my mother worked and cleaning one whole room from dusting to vacuuming.
I know doing these chores taught me that I didn’t get a free ride in life, everyone had to work and pitch in, that material things didn’t come easily and that I was trustworthy and capable.
Today I had Peanut take on a chore that she hadn’t done before. It was very successful. I told her to clean up the home office by putting things away neatly in the closet. I did sit there with her to supervise, but as time went on she was figuring it out for herself. I kept quiet. She was able to determine what was worth keeping, what could be sold online, what could be put in the thrift store bag and what was ready for the trash.
She went through some books to sell, some used cisco equipment that was ready for the thrift store, some old papers from school for the trash and some photographs for keeping.
Did she get any money for doing this? No, this was part of her household chores. She gets paid for things that she does that are over and above her chores.
If you are a parent, what do you do about chores, about an allowance? I’d love to hear some comments.
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April 19th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Both of my teens are responsible for their own rooms, and doing their laundry. We also have a calander that they swap out kitchen or trash duties. On the weekends I take care of the kitchen and trash. It gives them a couple days off, but they’ve allowed me to come home after work and not have to clean up all week. It works out really well for us.
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April 20th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
When I was a child I learned how to do my laundry, iron my clothes. Then at a young age I learned how to cook, and wash the dishes. It maybe objectionable for some people, but I am glad my parents let me do those stuff. It made me more self-reliant, and helped much in building lots of great self confidence in me. I guess parents should try to explain these things to their kids.
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