What chore did you hate the most when you were a child ?

I gave myself a chore. I loved ironing my father's pocket handkerchiefs, then I graduated to his shirts. Because I loved him so much, that's why, and it was my pleasure to see him wear what I ironed. Also, when it was raining, I would meet him at our subway stop with an umbrella. I would always hear his cigarette cough before I saw him come down the stairs.
 

My mom had a clothes dryer, but clothes had to smell fresh. So she hung them on the clothes line. My job was to take them down. The problem was in winter. My mom would hang wet clothes on the line. I was supposed to take them off, and throw them in the dryer. First, it's below freezing, so the wet clothes stuck to the clothes line. You had to fight to get them off. Next, I had to throw frozen clothes in the dryer. You had to fight to get the frozen clothes through the dryer door. Jeans were the worst. You almost had to 'break" them to get them in the dryer. I'm out there cold and wrestling frozen clothes, and they don't smell any fresher to me.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
My mom had a clothes dryer, but clothes had to smell fresh. So she hung them on the clothes line. My job was to take them down. The problem was in winter. My mom would hang wet clothes on the line. I was supposed to take them off, and throw them in the dryer. First, it's below freezing, so the wet clothes stuck to the clothes line. You had to fight to get them off. Next, I had to throw frozen clothes in the dryer. You had to fight to get the frozen clothes through the dryer door. Jeans were the worst. You almost had to 'break" them to get them in the dryer. I'm out there cold and wrestling frozen clothes, and they don't smell any fresher to me.
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Oh yes that was a job we had to do every winter as well. Frozen clothes in off the line... we didn't have a dryer I'm sure they weren't even a thing in houses in Scotland when I was a kid.. so we'd hang these frozen shirts, and school uniforms on the kitchen pulley to dry while my mother lit the cooker to create some heat. (we didn't have central heating or radiators)... the Condensation in the kitchen was horrendous
 
I hated having to make my bed when I got up. Yes, it makes the room look better. No one sees it. It's not like my mom had a parade of guests touring my bedroom, which was otherwise neat as a pin. When I was 16, I had to do my laundry and iron my clothes. I am very proud of the fact that when the boys were in Scouts, and I had to iron their uniforms and patches, they did not know what an iron was. I had to hide the iron since, from time to time, they would melt Barbie faces using light bulbs. I knew they would think of a good use for a hot iron, so I deprived them of that ability.

I hated having to tidy my lmessy ittle brother's room, which I had to do until I mentioned to my mom that he could do it himself.

When I think back on it, our house was always clean, tidy, and organized. My siblings and I did not do many chores. My sister and I were not allowed to do any yard work. When we lived on bases, the prisoners did it. When my dad got out of the service, he did it. He had a firm belief that girls should not do yard work. That meant I was dying to mow the lawn. He let me mow one strip when I was in my early 20s, just so I could see what it was like. I had to beg him.
 
My parent's bedroom had carpet and I was expected to sweep it, yes, sweep. They did not own a vacuum cleaner. I hated that chore so much and often think how difficult it was for a young child. My father was very strict and expected us to do chores after school and on weekends.

That is why I hate carpet, perhaps?!?

@hollydolly , I am so sorry for all that you had to endure as a child.
 
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Laundry for 9 people - a wringer washer and no dryer. Clothesline in back yard for the summer and in the winter clothesline in the basement. Sometimes I go so behind that my dad took me to the laundromat. Today, I don't mind doing laundry and I still hang my clothes outside in the summer.
 
palides2021 said:
I don't recall not liking any chores I did. I just did them. The only thing that stands out is when we were young and would go into the meadows and fields with my mom in the spring time to dig the dandelion weeds to boil later (ate with olive oil and lemon). This was a Greek tradition. Whatever we didn't eat got frozen. I dreaded it because of the big juicy worms that would pop out unexpectedly from the ground, and I'd jump back feeling frightened. :) Even now, when I'm gardening, I recoil when I see worms.
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i was much the same about chores--as one the 'youngest' and a real 'me,too' kid. i was happy to do chores because my older sisters did them, tho they didn't always do them without complaint. And some things i actually enjoyed.--Don't freak out @palides2021 but digging up worms for bait for fishing was one chore i kind of enjoyed; Or picking oranges from our orange tree: Securing the bow line of the boat when we pulled into dock.
 
IrisSenior said:
Laundry for 9 people - a wringer washer and no dryer. Clothesline in back yard for the summer and in the winter clothesline in the basement. Sometimes I go so behind that my dad took me to the laundromat. Today, I don't mind doing laundry and I still hang my clothes outside in the summer.
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i only had to help Mom with that, once we had a washer (i was 6-7) i had to stand on a wooden box to reach but i would feed stuff into the wringer and catch on other side make sure it went the basket or fed it thru a second time if seemed to wet.
 
I don't remember being put out by any 'chore' usually felt good my folks trusted me to do something that needed doing.

One thing that always felt like an awful 'chore' to me was having to 'dress up' proper for church and school--always in dresses and worst of all shoes. Especially because when i had a health checkup and got polio vax before starting first grade a doc told my Mom i was almost flat-footed and that wearing 'saddle shoes' (Oxfords) would correct it. Wore them every school day till about 11, My arch never got any higher, course they were the last thing on before i left for school and the first thing off when i got home.
 
Being the youngest of four I didn't have to do anything until I was a senior in high School. I was so damn lazy I hated to actually breathe on my own. Since I got married (TWICE) I still had zero chores for the next fifty years because I was working a gazillion hours for PC/CR and AMTRAK. Now that Stinky and Kirin are afoot I clean the entire house and Stinky and my cars once a week and the kitchen and both bathrooms every night before bedtime. Stinky pretty much handles the bills and runs the kitchen and Kirin plays. Kids got the life.
 
The chore I disliked the most was picking the hemp weeds around our place and laying them down by the burn barrel.Then when they dried out somewhat we would burn them with the trash. The hemp was sticky and gooey to me and smelled bad. Dad would say that he did not want the cows to eat them but he did not tell us they were marijuana, we found that out later on. The people from town would come out to are place and pick the hemp and put it in the trunk of their cars. We did not want the people on our property so when dad was gone I had to tell the people to leave and get off our property. So every week or so I had to go around and pick them and they were hard to pull out and cut.
 
Guess the other question is, did you make your children perform task they might think later in life 'They Hated'?

Admit I did.

Every Saturday morning, after my coffee, I'd wake up my oldest son to go out and sweep the front entrance to our house
in England.
Learned it was a village thing, seemed people up and down the road took care of this on Saturday mornings.

He hated it, but I thought like my parents, it was just something kids were suppose to learn.

Fast forward almost 20 years later and I'm watching him on Saturday morning sweeping and cleaning up the entry to his house
next to ours.

'What Doesn't Kill You, Makes You Strong...'
 
Feelslikefar said:
Guess the other question is, did you make your children perform task they might think later in life 'They Hated'?
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They never expressed it, even during their horrible first year as teens, when my boys fought with each other and me quite often (my boys are twins so both 13 at once) and they were not as open with me as they were before and after that terrible year.

Most of the things i asked of them, the few rules i had were based on a principle of 'the more responsibility you take for yourself and your stuff the more autonomy and control you get over your life.' Put dirty clothes in laundry basket, dirty dishes sink. In their teens the volunteered to do things like take out trash, mow grass, bring groceries in spend time with their sister.

You don't have to eat what i make but you have to have healthy food before you can have snacks. If you leave toys in living room when you go to bed they'll go in 'disappear box' : 1 day first offense, 3 days for the second, i donate them to charity the 3rd time. Never even had a 2nd time. First time they realized i meant what i said same as i dealt with whining and tantrums. Daughter, 8 yrs younger had same rules, learned even quicker didn't have to test me over a lot of things but reasoned out if i meant what i said about one thing it was likely i meant it all the time.
 
I never had set chores, yes, a spoilt brat. My Grandmama would say to me, 'would you like to do this or that with me, and because I worshipped the ground she stood on and wanted to be with her, I would say yes. In that way I learnt a lot because nothing was forced.
 
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