Chores??

chic

chic

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When you were a child did your parents have chores for you to do after school or on weekends before you could go out with your friends or do what you want??

Yup. I had household chores to do every afternoon and every Sat. before I could do anything else. Dishes, ( sans dishwasher ), vacuuming, dusting. All that kind of stuff. :indecisiveness:

What about you??
 

Nope, my mothers attitude was, there is plenty of time for all that when either you have your own place or married......and I certainly wasn't going to argue with her.:lol1:
 
We had to take turns doing the dishes and as teens we had to do things like dust on Saturdays. And we were supposed to do our own ironing when we were old enough.
 

No, not much was done at my house. My mom was sick (ulcers, cancer, and who knows what else) and chronically depressed. We lived like some of those hoarders do on that TV show. She would get upset if we tried to get rid of anything and everything was so messy, dirty and crowded we just couldn't and didn't do anything. I envied kids I heard talking about having to do chores and help clean house.

Chic do you think it was good for you to do the chores and has it carried over to your adult life? I'm guessing you'll say yes. My kids all did chores.
 
chic said:
When you were a child did your parents have chores for you to do after school or on weekends before you could go out with your friends or do what you want??

Yup. I had household chores to do every afternoon and every Sat. before I could do anything else. Dishes, ( sans dishwasher ), vacuuming, dusting. All that kind of stuff. :indecisiveness:

What about you??
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My sisters and I weren't expected to help in the house, but had to work quite hard helping my father in his horticultural business, especially if any of his staff were off sick.
 
Yes. We had chores do do around the house. And woe betide us if we ever whined because we had "nothing to do" because them my mother would find something for us to do, like more chores!

And yes, I do think it helped(though I didn't like it then) because I learned early on that you can't expect everything to be done for you dad's theory was that if you live in a home you have to expect to help out, and your mother is not your personal servant.
 
Yes absolutely ...from a very young age I had to do all the chores around the house. My mother did most of the cooking, but I personally had to do all the dishes for 6 people every night from the time I was only 7 years old until I left home as an adult..hand wash every one of them with all the pots..

I set and cleared the dining table before and after every meal ...and dusted and cleaned the floors. Every weekend all the wooden floors had to be polished with lavender polish and dusters were tied onto my feet for me to buff them up to a shine.

I did all the shopping with my mother every week ...father would never take us in the car so we had to walk carrying heavy groceries for 2 miles from the nearest supermarket

I also had to get up at 3am 7 days a week to work a milk round with my father before school, I'd get home about 7.30am just time for a very quick 1/2 a bread roll and tea..sometimes a bowl of cornflakes, and then dash to school...another 2 mile walk!!

Neither one of my younger sisters were ever given chores to do (they were very spoiled)...and my brother just a year younger than me, had one job to do..and that was to take the trash out and he would even complain about that!! On the other hand if I'd dared to refuse to do any of my chores then I would be given a good hiding...and I had many!! Often I would be too exhustaed after school and all the housework to be able to do my homework..it's a miracle I ever passed any exams at school at all.

Like you Linda my mother was constantly ill...mainly with severe depression but also with several different illnesses through her life...she died when I was 18 and she was just 39!!
 
Chores? Of course! And I was assigned to the male ones, washing floors on hands and knees, taking out the trash and garbage, mowing the lawn and shoveling the walk. I could go on but I don't want to put you in tears...
 
My mother used me as her personal maid service from the time I was 10. I did most everything.. cleaning, laundry, Ironing... even some cooking... so yeah.. I was "used".. and I resented it.
 
i did ironing when I was older. I always helped around the house, but I was never like a slave. My parents worked and I came home and tidied up after school. My mom left notes on the fridge. I used to sweep grass clippings when my dad mowed. I never minded or resented helping. I never felt used but I felt needed. I dusted furniture..I could defrost the fridge.

I think kids shouldn't be used as slaves ever.
 
chic said:
When you were a child did your parents have chores for you to do after school or on weekends before you could go out with your friends or do what you want??

Yup. I had household chores to do every afternoon and every Sat. before I could do anything else. Dishes, ( sans dishwasher ), vacuuming, dusting. All that kind of stuff. :indecisiveness:

What about you??
Click to expand...

My mom wasn't super consistent, but neither was our lives in other ways. I did learn to do what she asked, and had respect. Because of that, I always did a good job, or the best I could do at my jobs through the years. I am grateful for that teaching, and use it most days even while living alone. My home is never immaculate, but it things are in their place, dishes clean, bed made, before I go out to play:eek:nthego:each day.
 
Yup. Chores for sure! My mother started working about the time I started school.

I remember standing on a chair to wash the dishes. Also did the laundry starting around the age of six just helping on the washboard, then by myself when we got a wringer washer when I was in the second grade.

When a supermarket opened in our town, I was about 11 or 12 and was sent off early every Saturday morning with a grocery list...didn't have to walk home with the groceries, though. I was given taxi money (an extra 50 cents). As soon as I got home, the weekly heavy cleaning had to be done while my mother made a week's worth of bread.

During the week, I only had to dust and use a dust mop on the floors. That got done as soon as I got home from school. Then it was time to start dinner. Started cooking maybe in first grade? Second? After dinner it was kitchen cleanup and dishwashing.

In the summertime, my older brother and I prepped and planted the garden, tended the garden, harvested the garden. My mother, grandmother and aunts did the canning. We were also tasked with picking berries from the woods behind our house. At least I didn't also have to make the jams and jellies!

My older brother did the lawn mowing, thank heaven...we only had a push mower and about a quarter acre of lawn.

We kept chickens and ducks, and he saw to feeding and watering; I gathered the eggs. We had neighbors who bought eggs from us so it was my job to deliver them.

In the fall, my brother chopped the wood. I stacked.

Even with all of that and probably more that I've forgotten, we had time to go swimming in the afternoon in the summertime, skating in the evening or skiing on Saturday afternoons.


ETA: I don't know that I ever resented it. Most of my friends didn't have to do quite so much because their mothers didn't work, but they still had their own long lists of things they were expected to do. I think older brother and I just accepted that everybody we knew lived the same way. By the time I was a middle teen, though, I'd be pouty because my chores cut into my socializing. LOL
 
Oh yes, of course, my mom worked a full time job and did all the cooking and shopping. My sister and I did all the housework, vacuuming, bathroom, dusting washing floors, and whatever else every Saturday morning, while mom did the laundry in her ringer washer. We also washed up every day after dinner. My dad did the heavy yard work. I'm glad of this as it stayed with me my whole life. When I left home I met women who didn't even know how to sweep a floor.

I feel sad for the women here had work very hard as too young children, doing what was usually done by adults, I find that is too extreme and a kind of child labor as it robs the children of their childhood time when they should be playing and learning. But sometimes life dictates what is necessary if there is no other way.
 
Well, of course, I thought I was used as slave labor at the time but looking back, I can see that we didn't really have to do an unusual amount of work around the house. There were six of us girls, so the work was spread out pretty well. Saturday morning was work time such as washing woodwork, sweeping, etc. We were supposed to keep our rooms clean, but I don't think we did that good a job at it.

What I really, really hated (and everybody had to pitch in) was working in the large garden my parents had. I thought that was cruel and inhumane punishment. I didn't have any problem eating the food from the garden, though - lol.
 
Linda said:
No, not much was done at my house. My mom was sick (ulcers, cancer, and who knows what else) and chronically depressed. We lived like some of those hoarders do on that TV show. She would get upset if we tried to get rid of anything and everything was so messy, dirty and crowded we just couldn't and didn't do anything. I envied kids I heard talking about having to do chores and help clean house.

Chic do you think it was good for you to do the chores and has it carried over to your adult life? I'm guessing you'll say yes. My kids all did chores.
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Hmmm. I think it's good to give kids responsibility. Let them know their allowances have to be earned, money has value as does the work done for it.

Am I a neatnick still?? No. I'm a messcat. I can find my way through any debris and always know exactly where things are despite not being as organized as when I was a kid.

Linda, I'll bet you're the opposite now?.?. :rolleyes:
 
Cookie said:
Oh yes, of course, my mom worked a full time job and did all the cooking and shopping. My sister and I did all the housework, vacuuming, bathroom, dusting washing floors, and whatever else every Saturday morning, while mom did the laundry in her ringer washer. We also washed up every day after dinner. My dad did the heavy yard work. I'm glad of this as it stayed with me my whole life. When I left home I met women who didn't even know how to sweep a floor.

I feel sad for the women here had work very hard as too young children, doing what was usually done by adults, I find that is too extreme and a kind of child labor as it robs the children of their childhood time when they should be playing and learning. But sometimes life dictates what is necessary if there is no other way.
Click to expand...

When my grandma had open heart surgery, I did the supper cooking too after school. I almost forgot that. And I do feel kinda sorry for women who don't know their way away around a kitchen. I actually met a woman who didn't know how to make a chicken salad sandwich and asked for recipes. WTF. How do you grow to adulthood without learning to make chicken salad sandwiches for crying out loud.
 
From a very young age ,I cooked ,cleaned looked after my 7 younger siblings while my mother spent he time down the hotel drinking.
 
Yes Chic, I'm sort of the opposite now but I have never been OCD about having a clean house. All 3 of my sons were/are pretty much neat freaks and I guess my daughter too but she has a lot of stuff and the boys more into "less is more". :) For some weird reason the last year I've felt I need to get rid of a lot of things and even cut some of my interests/hobbies down because I'm into so many different things I can't give my all to any of them. My husband does help a bit with the housework though, which he never did when the kids lived at home.
 
I had to do chores from the age of 9.. Dishes, laundry, dusting, vacuuming, oh and the worst job cleaning the bathroom.. I have two younger brothers yuck. Of course I would complain but I got a shiny 25 cents once per week made it that much better. I also babysat from the age of 10 and cooked meals for my brothers. I suppose that is why when I had my two kids I did not make them do any chores. I knew it was better for them to be kids than grow up fast. They have become great adults and keep clean houses too. So in the end I guess all things turned out ok..
 
I was youngest, only girl and only one at home from age 5 on. My mom stayed home so I spent a lot of time alone with her learning her "woman" chores, cleaning, cooking, dishes, washing clothes. Ironing started with doing my dad's white and my mom's embroidered handkerchiefs. (Do people still use those?) I didn't mind doing those things but really loved doing things outside like mowing and edging the lawn, weeding dandelions, digging in the garden, seeding, weeding, etc. I got a lot of self esteem from learning to do so many different things that I would typically take on a job and just do it without anyone asking. So no chore list and no allowance.
 
My mother was a stay at home housewife. I often helped her with the chores, especially on Saturdays when there was window cleaning, sheet changing and dusting, etc. I was never given a list of any specifics, or told I had to do something before I could go out, etc. Never had an allowance either.
 

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