RadishRose
SF VIP
- Location
- Connecticut, USA
(these thoughts are inspired by Ruth n Jersey's post about her mother airing out the house)
Aside from the universal picking up after one's self, like many little girls I remember trying to help with laundry by folding the wash coths and dish towels, also trying to help dust the furniture I could reach; ie- the coffee table. I would hand clothes-pins to my mother while she hung out the laundry.
Later, the real chores started; setting the table, clearing the table, drying the dishes, then washing AND drying the dishes, washing down the stove and fridge every night. Mostly everything was kitchen and food related like helping to put away the groceries and salad making. I didn't consider helping to cook to be a chore; I enjoyed that.
Then there was dusting and using that old "carpet sweeper" between the vacuuming either my mother or sometimes my father did, weekly. My father always took out the trash and did yard work but I had to help rake leaves if he could find me.
I was also expected to take my bike to the small, local store for a few items mom had run out of and needed to finish making supper. I hated doing that because I had to drop everything. Sometimes I pretended I didn't hear her calling me.
One time, I flat out refused to go to the store my mother's demand. She promptly asked one of the other kids I was playing with to go, and she went. My mother rewarded her with a big handful of coins! The next night, my father told me in the future, "if I knew what was good for me", I would go to the store anytime my mother told me to. Ok, I did, but for quite some time it seemed every kid in the neighborhood was ringing our bell and asking my mother if she needed anything from the store.
I guess chores were different for the boys. Maybe like car-washing, lawn mowing and what else did you guys do, anyway? I never had a brother and the brothers of my friends didn't seem to do much else that I could see. Unless maybe they lived on a farm, which no one I knew did, since first grade.
Aside from the universal picking up after one's self, like many little girls I remember trying to help with laundry by folding the wash coths and dish towels, also trying to help dust the furniture I could reach; ie- the coffee table. I would hand clothes-pins to my mother while she hung out the laundry.
Later, the real chores started; setting the table, clearing the table, drying the dishes, then washing AND drying the dishes, washing down the stove and fridge every night. Mostly everything was kitchen and food related like helping to put away the groceries and salad making. I didn't consider helping to cook to be a chore; I enjoyed that.
Then there was dusting and using that old "carpet sweeper" between the vacuuming either my mother or sometimes my father did, weekly. My father always took out the trash and did yard work but I had to help rake leaves if he could find me.
I was also expected to take my bike to the small, local store for a few items mom had run out of and needed to finish making supper. I hated doing that because I had to drop everything. Sometimes I pretended I didn't hear her calling me.
One time, I flat out refused to go to the store my mother's demand. She promptly asked one of the other kids I was playing with to go, and she went. My mother rewarded her with a big handful of coins! The next night, my father told me in the future, "if I knew what was good for me", I would go to the store anytime my mother told me to. Ok, I did, but for quite some time it seemed every kid in the neighborhood was ringing our bell and asking my mother if she needed anything from the store.
I guess chores were different for the boys. Maybe like car-washing, lawn mowing and what else did you guys do, anyway? I never had a brother and the brothers of my friends didn't seem to do much else that I could see. Unless maybe they lived on a farm, which no one I knew did, since first grade.
