Chores Will Not Kill Your Children

When I was growing up in the early 60s, there were many Catholic families in our community. They had a lot of kids. From my perspective, it was because they wanted a lot of help with chores.

We have less kids now, therefore, they need to do more work!

Think back. What were your favorite chores? Which ones did you hate? Did you die? What were your friends doing? We wanted something? We did extra chores to earn it.

I do not know how we as a society got away from chores, but you can see the lack of work ethic in a lot of today's younger work force.

Each person in your home needs to be responsible for their personal space. They need to transport their laundry to and from the central laundry area. With extra things needing to be done for the holidays, many hands make light the work. The man who coined that phrase did so in the 1500's. Don't you think those kids knew how to do some chores?

Now, most of us do not have cows to milk or fields to harvest, but those principles can be applied in our suburban homes. If you cook the food and buy the food, the people consuming it should tote it from the car to the kitchen and put it away. My people thought it would be okay to put it away any old place. We had a "clean out the pantry day" along with "clean out the fridge day". Since they were a little challenged as to where things go, I labeled everything for their convenience. If they were still challenged, they got to do it again instead of being driven to an activity.

My kids will tell you my favorite Mom-ism is: "We live by the Golden Rule, I make the Gold, I make the rules." You want a democracy, get a job. Please know that you are not being mean (well you are, but it is ultimately for their own good).

What skills do your children need to have to survive without you? Make sure you teach them along the way. Chores prepare our children for independent living and the work world.

Happy Cheapness!