Ok, I really need input from as many people as possible. Pullleeeeeze!?

What chores did you, or your children have when growing up?

What were the conditions of getting those chores done? What were the punishments of not getting them done?

My daughter is 11, and never follows through with her chores, and that is mostly my fault because I have not made her follow through. She bargains to get out of them, and ALWAYS has to be reminded to get them done.

So I am cracking down, but she thinks I am being mean. I would just like to show her that she is not the only kid that has responsibilites in her home.
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07-20-04, 09:58 AM
jusork
I walk the dog everyday, collect and help take out the trash and recycling, check the pet's waterbowls, let the dogs out, close all the windows in the house, take any recycling to the recycling bin, then bring up the recycyling and garbage. That's just on a normal week. Recently, my mom has wanted me to sweep the kitchen, vaccuum the garage, vaccuum the stairs, vaccuum the upstairs hall and playroom, we were taking care of an temporary adopted dog for about two months and I had to take her out of her cage outside every morning, feed her, take her with me where ever I go in the house or put her back in the cage (and she wasn't crate train yet so we were trying to do that), then take her back outside about three more times, feed the dogs and cats, collect weeds and branches and put them in the pile, I mowed the lawn a couple days ago, pull up weeds with my parents, spread pine straw in the beds (we have a huge backyard and my parents love their plants. It's probably some of the worst chores I've ever had to do), plus whatever she needs me to do on the side. Lately, it's been getting food from the downstairs freezer. That's all I can think of now. I just knew that somebody had to do some of the work because my parents can't do everything themselves.

07-20-04, 11:17 AM
DvdGStwrt
Well when we lived in the city there was take out the trash, mow the lawns, tend the garden, help clean the house, vacuum, dust, wash, do the dishes every night - I was the dishwasher, Fold laundry, and of course Do my home work, clean my room - not just shove stuff in he closet or under the bed, clean - mop and make my bed every morning upon rising. My father was a perfectionist, he wanted my bed room and the whole house to be in perfect order all the time - ALL the time.

I was fairly young less than 12 years old. So those days are kinda dim in my memory I think there was more. My father had a fascination with farming, thus the majority of the back yard was dedicated to a huge vegetable garden, which I got to helped make and weed and plant and tend. Later he would buy 10 acres of land, where we would homestead for the rest of my childhood with him.

Also my father spent several years "fixing up" the house, which included painting, peeling decades of wall paper and sanding down the wood trim, taking off decades of paint to get down to bare wood in order to stain that. Pulling up carpet, sanding (by hand) all the hardwood floors for staining and finishing. This was in the 70's, so we converted the basement into a "family" room - I got to learn my basic building skills in that process.

We also lived in snow country, I got the duty of shoveling sidewalks and the driveway.

My weekly allowance for all of that was one Dollar.

Then we lived on a farm (homestead), do you really want a list of those chores????

Feed the chickens, slop the pigs, clean out the chicken coop, pull weeds, chop wood, in winter make sure the wood bin is full. Then there was the other things like picking the 2 acres of corn (feed), clearing out the wild roses which were taking over the lower fields, taking large lime stones and breaking them into #2 gravel size with a sledge hammer, for several years it was mix mud for the storm cellar and the root cellar, built of native Kentucky lime stone, hand dug in the native Clay and lime stone.

Mow the weeds - er lawn, Clear out the rest of the weeds with a scythe, the classical Grim reaper type of thing, gather up the cuttings and throw them into Compost heap 1. Turn the compost heap once a month Moving Compost 1 to compost 2, then later on to compost heap 3, lots of pitchfork work, spread out the mulch, seed, plant, turn garden beds, and during drought water with a 5 gallon bucket. Of course we also didn't have running water, well it ran, if you ran from the well to the house. We depended on the garden for a big percentage of our food for the year - it was a survival sort of thing. Shovel out the outhouse hole - That was nice, thankfully that was once every two years...

Repair fences, dig posts holes, one year it was plant 250 white pine seedlings - a side venture to raise christmas trees. The older I got the more duties I got, like tractor duty ( I started driving that when I turned 14), baling and storing hay, When the Neighbor dude started trucking for a living, I also got to go help the women with their cattle and horses, mend fences, plow the flood plain for corn, and various other fun things. The first year I plowed that field I did it wrong and got a sound beating for it - then I had to go and plow the thing with my father standing out there making certain I got the farrows straight.

There was the Cow Experiment, hand milking was interesting, thankfully after 3 years father decided to slaughter that cow and go to goats milk. Gather eggs, tend the ducks, go egg hunting in the duck pond, hunt down the the occasional ground hog, one year we had a turtle problem, imagine having to wait by the pond for it to poke its head up - Turtles will drag ducks down and drown them - not good if those ducks are part of your food supply.

Yearly we would slaughter 25 chickens, 10 ducks and one pig, then there was the cleaning, gutting and packaging of the chickens and ducks for the deep freeze, the pig was gutted and butchered, we also salted parts (bacon) The last three years that I lived on the farm I got the sole duty to slaughter the pigs. Today I don't eat pork.

Then there was the rabbit hutch, that was an experiment which failed - Rabbits are filthy little critters that get all sorts of diseases, can scratch and are not the nice little things people make them out to be.

Then there was pick berries, apples and other fruits, Harvest with canning, preserving and preparation for winter. For a couple of years I worked in the tobacco fields bringing in a little money which went for the addition to our small house, I also earned enough to get my first truck.

As soon as I was big enough to use a chain saw, I was out there cutting up trees, felling them and loading them into the truck - Wood was out source of heat. Before I was big enough to use that, It was mu job to load up the truck with the cut logs.

The incentive was do it or get a punishment, that punishment would range from more chores to a sound thrashing. While on the farm I did not get an allowance, any money I made (working in the tobacco fields) the majority went to my father.

Mind my father had a very clear vision of what children are supposed to do, act and behave. He also talked with his fists and talked a lot. We had the Razor Strap for punishment and I pretty much lived under the understanding that as long as I was under his roof it was his way or else.

David

07-20-04, 11:57 AM
gerry
David..
and your memory of your childhood is
a) happy
b) sad
c)depressing
d)downright miserable
e)emotionless

07-20-04, 12:37 PM
babthrower
The chores varied seasonally.

Summer: Ride my horse and bring the collie along to fetch the cows
Make big country breakfast
Take the milk to market
Wash and sterilize all milking equipment
***
Eat breakfast and do breakfast dishes
***
Work at whatever my father was doing that day: haying, harvesting. Maintain whatever equipment I had been using, e.g. lubricate, clean, sharpen
***
Eat lunch and do lunch dishes
***
More farm work as before lunch
Use the horse and collie again to fetch the cows for milking
Cook supper
***
Eat supper and do supper dishes
***
Put the cows to pasture.
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Sundays we just lazed around, except for the cattle chores, cooking and dishes.
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My father was the sort of man who worked along beside you, instead of just issuing orders and walking away. He did not just assign the kind of work he hated. He was patient and laughed easily, and loved animals. He never slapped or hit me. If displeased, his face spoke volumes. But he never held a grudge, and ten minutes after delivering a correction, he'd make a joke and get me laughing again. Unfortunately my mother was the opposite; but hey, one out of two ain't bad!

In winter life was much simpler. Most of my work was housework. Periodically my mother would tell me to 'clean house'. This was basically top-to-bottom, thorough cleaning.

When I left home my two younger brothers had to take over all my chores and man, were they ticked!

I didn't get any allowance, ever. It wasn't the custom in the community where I lived. I just relied on my parents to give me what I needed. Sometimes after church on Sundays we would go for a coke.

Gerry:

I was a happy kid because I loved animals. I was the family 'vet'. When any animal was hurt or sick that was my job. After school I would ride my beautiful mare Pearl, and in those times, and in that place, we were very free to go wherever we wished: not like today.

I did encouter sex predators, and one fended them off as best one could, and avoided them in future. I knew if I told my dad he'd kill them, and to call the police would be a shame for the family.

I was a readaholic and our house was full of books. I had a wonderful uncle that I could ask any question at all, and he would answer it respectfully, as one treats an adult. I tried to treat my own children that way.

I was very proud of my competence. My father (clever bugger!) praised me in my own hearing to his friends: he had no need of a hired man, he had me! "Show her how to tie a knot, or grease a machine. You'll never have to show her again!"

It helped me later in life: I honestly believed I could do anything I wanted if I worked hard and studied.

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Advice to parents:

To get the children interested in work, assign tasks where you can work together. Okay, you'd like your kids to take out the garbage; but if you do the garbage and recycling chores together, your children will benefit, and your tasks will be lighter. Don't just assign the chores you obviously hate; assign interesting chores, too. And don't boss every little detail. Leave them to it, unless safety is an issue.

Praise them briefly if they do well; if they don't, mention what's wrong, also briefly; avoid a special tone of voice when you are displeased. Just be matter of fact about what's wrong. Say you expect better next time.

Mention how their help assists the whole family to have a better life.

Later, when they show a 'work ethic', you can assign them tasks to do alone.

07-20-04, 01:35 PM
DvdGStwrt

quote:Originally posted by gerry:
David..
and your memory of your childhood is
a) happy
b) sad
c)depressing
d)downright miserable
e)emotionless



Ah, oh, um - gee do we really have to go there?

Alright d and e.

07-20-04, 05:54 PM
clarebear
My son is 16 and has very few chores. One of my mistakes was not enforcing chores when he was little. He cleans the bathroom, empties the garbage cans when they are full and takes the garbage out to the curb on trash day. If I don't tell him to do it he probably would forget. (Ok, he would forget and he has before!) He has gotten better about cleaning up after himself and actually did a fantastic job on the bathroom the other day. I have asked him to rake leaves or shovel the snow but it never gets done well and we usually end up arguing. So to be honest, he has gotten away pretty light. I figure if he can clean the bathroom, gather up the garbage, put his dishes in the dishwasher and not leave cups in his room then I'm winning the battle. One of my problems is he has hardly any chores at his dad's house so what I ask of him is soooo much. Roll Eyes I guess I've just dealt with it. If his chores don't get done then we just argue and its not worth it to either of us. He pretty much does just the bare minimal.(Hey, I'm just being honest) I know it is important to teach him responsibility and I should have started when he was younger. He is still a slob but he's getting better. Ok so my kid is a slob BUT he doesn't do drugs, doesn't skip school, doesn't steal, doesn't smoke, doesn't do drugs or kick small animals. My problems could be a lot bigger than him leaving his socks on his floor.

P.S. I had no chores as a child.

07-20-04, 07:13 PM
honilov
I had to wash the dishes, sweep the floors, mop, make the bed, do my homework, wash, iron, cook, feed the chickens, gather the eggs, gather food from the garden, and the list goes on and on. I never got an allowance but my parents made sure that I got the things that I needed, and I was a very happy child.

Nowadays, all some kids have to do is get up and get their own remote.

07-21-04, 03:13 PM
Leppi
Lets see, I did emptying and filling the dishwasher, washing dishes, setting the table, cleaning the bathroom, take out the compost,
taking out the garbage, taking out the recyceling, and on friday, we all cleaned the entire house, vacumming sweeping, etc.

07-21-04, 11:44 PM
jusork
Oh, I forgot about emptying the dishwasher and brushing our two cats and two dogs. And tommorrow my mom needs me to sweep the porch.

07-22-04, 12:06 AM
Sherasi
I was responsible for washing the dishes for the whole family and all meals from about 10 years old until I moved out of the house. (I was always waiting for my brother and sister to get old enough to help, but they never seemed to).

I swept, vacuumed, dusted, cleaned the bathrooms.. basically my parents never cleaned. Frown I did it. I or my sister mowed the lawn most of the time.

07-22-04, 12:44 AM
esencia
My brother and I shared the chores.

We did dishes, cooked, took out the garbage, pulled weeds, mowed the lawn, did laundry, washed the cars, cleaned our rooms and were responsible for whatever pet we had at the time.(we had fish, various cats and dogs, rabbits, hamsters, a farret, a turtle.)

When my brother and I turned old enough to get a job, we worked 20-30 hours a week, went to school and did the above chores.

My mother is a perfectionist when it comes to cleaning so she would not let us vaccume or dust or anything like that. She had to do it.

I had friends that got paid to do their chores. We did not. But I didn't care. My borhter and I got money for good grades. Not chores.

The only thing I hated doing was pulling weeds. Our front yard was a hill and it was like a jungle. Weed after weed after more weeds. And they grew back fast too! What I hated the most was the stupid morning glory. It grew around the ivy and it was a pain to pull w/o pulling the ivy.

If we didn't do the chores, my parents got upset. And we got a lecture. The standard "when I was your age..." I remember a few times we got privilages taken away such as TV or the telephone.

07-23-04, 03:21 PM
Elexina
What chores did I have as a child? All of them. I am an only child, so everything fell to me. I set up the coffee machine for my parents, cleared the table, filled/ran/emptied the dishwasher, did the other dishes, cleaned the pool (usually), mowed the lawn (usually) or shoveled as necessary, made my bed every morning, picked up my room and kept it neat, did my laundry...
When I got older, I also took the animals to the vet -but that wasn't until I could drive.
I received an allowance of $10 a week, at its peak. I would not have gotten an allowance at all if I'd had a job outside of the house, but my parents and I decided it was better if I focused on my schoolwork rather than an outside job. When I started cleaning the house once a week and doing all the laundry, they paid me extra.
What were the conditions and punishments? I don't know. There was never an option. I was expected to do them, so I did them. That was the bottom line. There was no bargaining, and no question as to whether I would do them or not. These things were my responsibility, so I did them.
I'm sorry, that's not much help to you, is it?

What chores do I have now? Oh, all of them. Except the vacuuming. Sometimes. What do I get for an allowance? Squat.

07-25-04, 12:04 PM
MrsS
When I was 11, we lived in an extremely rural environment and had not yet installed niceties like phone, electricity,gas or running water, so my chores included gathering,splitting and stacking firewood, building a fire for cooking/heating/ hot water, hauling water for drinking, cooking,cleaning and bathing from a creek nearly half a mile...much of the return trip was uphill... Trips to town were not frequent, so most of the laundry had to be done by hand, which meant extra trips to the creek....I also helped with the cooking, which often meant going out and gathering wild foods....and the grocery shopping, the nearest store was almost 2 miles away and the return trip was, again, mostly uphill....You notice I have not mentioned a car? That's because we rarely used one...most of our running about was done on foot.

07-25-04, 10:54 PM
Sherasi
S, you didn't mentioned you lived in the Old West times! Eek

07-26-04, 02:47 AM
Jenny Roberts
We lived on a farm when I was young. From an early age my brother and sister and I were expected to collect eggs, feed the chickens, pigs, goats etc. In summer we worked long hours to bring the hay in. I learn't to drive the tractor at a very early age. We didn't get paid, it was expected and because we had always done it, we didn't know any different. Those were great times. It was hard work, but we were fit and healthy and had a wonderful time. When my dad retired and we bought a house in the village, it just wasn't the same. I was bored stiff.
Now my own kids are a different story! My 16 year old daughter is totally bone idle. She doesn't even tidy her bedroom but I don't do it either! If she wants to live in a tip thats her problem. My sons are much better, they help with the everyday jobs like taking out the rubbish, emptying and refilling dishwasher, generally tidying up. This earns them their spending money. No jobs done, no money! Big Grin

07-26-04, 05:36 AM
shelster
You guys have been so great in your responses to this, and all of them have been so helpful!

Here is what I ask of Karena: She has to keep the trash cans empty, and take the big outdoor cans to the corner on trash day. She is in charge of emptying the litter box, (but I always have to remind her to do both, and even then its an argument). I also ask that she clean her room, but it is usually so bad that it never really gets clean. She is also often asked to do the dishes if hubby or I haven't gotten to them. I do her laundry, but she has to put it away because I can't get far enough into her room to do it myself.

07-26-04, 06:07 AM
Jelp01
Let's see: When I was younger, it was clear the table, rinse the dishes, unload the dishwasher, and load the dishwasher. These my sister and I shared. And make the bed, clean the bedroom, making sure the toys were put away and not crammed in the closet or under the bed. As we got older, I mowed the lawn and my sister did more of the inside stuff. I'm not sure what the punishment was, because I was so scared of my dad, I didn't bother to question anything. Nor my mother either. Getting told how stupid and lazy I was by my dad whenever the mood struck him and whether it was warranted or not was always a constant threat too.

07-26-04, 12:45 PM
coldfuse
The main expectations of me were:

1. to have my bed neatly made each morning before breakfast (beginning at age six);

2. to set the table for breakfast (which my father and I cooked together);

3. after both breakfast and supper, to bring my plate, glass and silverware to the kitchen and rinse all items to be loaded into the dishwasher;

4. to clean and dry all pots and pans, no matter how messy, and put them back into the proper cabinets;

5. to feed (usually) four dogs both am and pm;

6. to mow the lawn, beginning at age 10 on my own;

7. to provide other yard chores such as weeding and edging (my folks, however, kept me away from the garden!);

8. to maintain a gravel driveway;

9. in the winter, to provide sufficient split wood and kindling for the fireplace;

10. to wash my parents' cars on Saturday, weather permitting;

11. to have my room neatly picked up prior to bedtime each night;

12. to do anything else my mother asked!

My allowance started at a quarter a week when I was six and gradually went to a dollar a week by the time I was about twelve. However, this was not for doing chores. Doing the chores were an expectation, without argument.

Item #12 above was my favorite. For requests that were more difficult and time consuming, I was compensated quite well (for example, an eight-hour job of washing all of the exterior windows and screens for which I was handsomely rewarded $8 - good money in those days!).

07-26-04, 01:47 PM
babthrower
Funny, not one of us had to walk uphill both ways to and from school!

Just curious, Coldfuse's remark about 'good money' reminded me. I have a neighbor a little cross with me because I pay $10 per hour for teens to do heavy yard work. She won't give me the names of good workers she has used; she says I'll just 'spoil' them.

I would think $10 is about right, what do you think?

07-26-04, 02:34 PM
Jelp01

Can I do your yardwork, Bab?? I don't make $10 per hour at my job now!

I think that's very kind and generous of you. Most teens would love that kind of money and I can't see how they'd be spoiled for it....probably grateful more than anything.

07-26-04, 03:31 PM
babthrower
Mind you, this is hard work I'm talking about. Digging fencepost holes. Climbing up a tree to cut off damaged or diseased limbs. Stuff like that. Also I guess it depends where you live. In nearby Vancouver you can't even get into a movie for less than $10, although in this town it's $6. And as for teen clothes, some of the teens buy at the thrift shop because they couldn't possibly afford the cool shops.

10-18-04, 04:52 PM
Angie Marie
I come from a family of six kids and I'm the youngest so I was shown really early how to do chores and we never had allowance in our household. it was just something that was expected of us. By 11 I was doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen, and had a paper route. My other siblings had chores as well. If we fell through on doing chores we were made to do them the instant my mom realized they weren't done and usually we were unable to do something that we wanted to do on the upcoming weekend etc. As strict as my mom was, that didnt happen much because it was a bummer being woken up when she got home from work to clean the kitchen that you refused to clean earlier. LOL

10-18-04, 08:22 PM
DvdGStwrt

quote:Originally posted by Jelp01:
Can I do your yardwork, Bab?? I don't make $10 per hour at my job now!

I think that's very kind and generous of you. Most teens would love that kind of money and I can't see how they'd be spoiled for it....probably grateful more than anything.



That's Canadian ten dollars, which comes to $7.9486 US (today)

Comparable to the $7.00 US I paid per hour to the nieces for painting the landlord's house.

10-18-04, 09:56 PM
carmen621
I've been doing odd chores around the house since I was about 8. I would help my mum fold teatowels or I would wake an hour early in the morning and do the dishes for her, and as a treat she would give me a digestive biscuit--the best.
As I got older, me and my brother would set everything up for dinner, clear the table, wipe it, do the dishes, clean the floor, etc.
Then we moved to the States, and I was on laundry for like 2 years, where I would have to change the laundry, make sure the lintrap was clean always, fold it all, distribute it to the proper rooms, make sure I did a really good job folding it or I'd get yelled at. My brother had to the kitchen totally, we had a diswasher then so we had to load/unload that as needed all throughout the day(the laundry was done all day, too) get drinks for everyone, set the table, mop and sweep and wash pots and pans and clean all the counters. Couple of the more difficult things to do were the things my mum was nuts about; like doing things to her standards, and the worst part was cleaning up after your younger siblings. I'm a little prideful, so when it came to picking up the damn food off the floor and the table just because they were too lazy to keep their food on their fork or mouth. I would tell them off for it and then get yelled at for that cos it wasn't my place, although my mum wouldn't do it. She never ate with us so she didn't have to watch them dump food all over the kitchen you had to clean every night.
Eventually me and my brother switched off everynight, and then when he moved out my mum and me switched off, and when I started working I only had to help out every now and then when I wasn't sleeping.

I realize what we had to do was nothing compared to what some of the rest of you did, like more outdoor work, but we lived in Florida where none of that was necessary--except for vacuuming the pool...lol.

Additonally to that, we'd do the odd polishing, windexing and vacuuming everything. Emptying trash cans around the house, antibacterialize all the cabinets in the kitchen, clean the bathrooms, blabbity blab.
Not soo bad, this was in the nineties. We did more than a lot of kids, and we were required to do it rain or shine, except for our birthdays. I even did my chores when I was sick. And something else--if I had the kitchen to do, I wasn't allowed to go out with my friends until I had it done. Sometimes I couldn't go out during the day on Saturdays cos there was so much laundry (5 kids). We didn't get allowance for it, and my parents never really spent excess money on us. I mean, of course they fed us and stuff, but we were never the family to go out to eat at all, the movies, or anything. My dad just used to tell us "It's what you do for me keeping a roof over your head."

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