Comments on: Chores and Children: On How They Go Together

By: Medbie

Medbie — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:26:40 +0000

You are so on target! Chores are gratification-free except the self-gratification of having done the chore itself. Sports as a chore is a ridiculous notion.

Of course children should have chores. My step-daughter has none at her main home and she is not turning out to be a Godly young woman. She is turning out spoiled and demanding, even though she is a good and sweet girl. She leaves packages unopened and when chastised will say, “But Mom comes behind me and fixes it at home.” Just a small example

I had chores, though not a set weekly list. On Saturday, I did what Mom needed done. I hated it. It was a lesson in obedience, humility, and putting aside MY desires for the better good of the whole family. A wonderful lesson and I am a much better person as a result. I would do the same to my kids, if I had any.

As a matter of a fact, as a special education preschool teacher, we teach “chores”. Or at least, we teach “responsibility” and oddly enough we have to teach the parents to give responsibility to these kiddos as well. We teach our guys to throw away their trash and put their dishes in the sink after breakfast and snack, push in their chairs, throw away their own kleenexes and paper towels, to hang up their backpacks and coats, to put on their own clothing after diaper changes. These are things that may not be specific chores, but still need to be done by the child his/herself.

As a teacher, I would be SO proud to have you as the parent of one of my kiddos! You would make life so much easier on me as a teacher and on the special ed kiddo, too. Thanks for what you do for kids. They don’t know to thank you yet, so I will.

By: Veens

Veens — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:46:31 +0000

Well, we had to do cleaning out rooms, making beds, laying the table for fodd, dusting and by the time i was a little older i was supposed to learn cooking as well.

Well mom always wanted us to be self-sufficient and good at out own work, and i think making kids do chores, giving them responsibilities are like the basic things we really need to do.

But I have known people, who don’t have their male kids do anythign at all, which in my view is really wrong.

The list you have put here is impressive!
Thank you

By: heidenkind

heidenkind — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:32:52 +0000

It’s hard for me to imagine parents who don’t make their kids do chores. I loved doing chores when I was little! When I was a teenager, that was a different story… but I had A LOT of chores when I was a teen. I think kids need to contribute to the household, even if it’s just cleaning up after themselves.

By: Becky

Becky — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:45:04 +0000

I was the chicken keeper (each kid was assigned an animal). It was made very clear to me that if my chickens were not fed and cared for that I would not be having dinner until they were!
I loved how Growing kids God’s way talks about chores, to teach them to benefit the family without a reward. That is such a task at this age when they would like a treat for doing anything.

By: Ruth @ Bookish Ruth

Ruth @ Bookish Ruth — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:56:45 +0000

I helped with putting away food, watering the garden, making my bed, then as I got a little older, dusting and vacuuming my bedroom, doing my own laundry, cleaning the bathroom (tub, tile and floor), cleaning the windows, etc. I still love watering the garden, doing laundry and cleaning the windows. Those aren’t chores to me. I didn’t like vacuuming until we got a new vacuum cleaner when I was a teenager. Our old vacuum was 20+ years old, heavy, loud, and would get hot quickly. That was the only chore I ever dreaded, mainly because of the vacuum cleaner I had to use.