Household chores play a crucial role in childhood development. They instill a sense of responsibility and encourage children to contribute to their environment. Additionally, chores serve as a valuable lesson that life is not solely about pursuing one’s preferred activities.
For my children, these tasks are particularly significant: they prevent me from considering extreme options when the circus rolls into town. However, when I come across a dishwasher loaded in the most chaotic manner, I can’t help but feel that any help I hoped for is non-existent.
Whom should I blame? After a futile attempt to find the usual culprits—such as animated shows, video games, or even the kids’ father (who has perfected the art of inefficient dishwasher loading)—I reached a rather disheartening conclusion: “No one is to blame.” Except for me, standing in a state of frustration and disappointment, realizing that proper chore training is yet another responsibility that falls squarely on my shoulders—and one more area in which I feel I am currently failing.
This line of thought led me to a critical understanding: parenting is essentially about delegating tasks to the least competent team members imaginable, with no one to hold accountable but oneself.
The revelation struck me as I found myself on my hands and knees, avoiding the sticky spiderwebs clinging to the handles of the recycling bins while attempting to retrieve a load of recyclables lost in the murky depths of the green waste container. Not surprisingly, I was also working hard to keep my language PG-rated due to my neighbor’s open window. It was an immense challenge.
This scenario often brings to mind memories of my own childhood. Back in elementary school, long before the advent of the internet, we used to program a turtle to draw lines on our Apple IIe computers—quite the innovative tech education for that time, particularly for the gifted program.
In preparation for this task, we undertook an exercise where we had to “program” a classmate to tie their shoes. The objective was to outline every necessary step in clear terms. As the “robot,” the goal was to misinterpret instructions as much as possible, making the whole process incredibly frustrating.
The lesson learned? Teaching someone to tie their shoes requires meticulously crafted instructions. My takeaway: programming is no easy feat.
The same approach used for turtle graphics is needed when instructing children on how to complete chores correctly. It’s worth noting that children tackling household tasks can be just as infuriating as those gifted kids in computer class back in the day.
You find yourself saying things like:
- Ensure the vacuum is turned on all the way; otherwise, it won’t pick up any dirt.
- Please do not use bathroom towels for cleaning the floor.
- Pledge is meant for tables, while Windex is what we use for windows.
- And my personal favorite: make sure to use a new bleach wipe for the kitchen counter that differs from the one used for the toilet.
These are actual instructions I’ve had to provide. Little did I know, my little helpers lack the common sense of even the most basic animals.
Having grown up in the Midwest, I have always identified as firmly middle class, which meant we did not have a housecleaner or gardener. My mother believed she could manage just fine without help—and she did, primarily by putting us to work to the fullest extent.
We mowed lawns, weeded gardens, trimmed hedges, dusted, vacuumed, and cleaned out the garage. Not to mention our family of six often had to tackle the unpleasant chore of cleaning our shared bathroom or sniffing food to determine if it had gone bad while cleaning out the refrigerator.
You might assume that my humble beginnings would have stuck with me, but I’m not immune to the “we’re too good to clean our toilets” mentality. For over a decade, I’ve employed a housecleaner. And don’t even get me started on the amount I pay my gardeners to keep our yard tidy.
With my recent move, I currently find myself without a housecleaner, a situation that has my sanity hanging by a thread. Today, that thread snapped when my fingernail encountered something unidentifiable at the bottom of the green waste barrel.
Despite this, I find myself reluctant to hire a new cleaner. Chores are a part of life. I had to do them; my siblings did, too, along with everyone I knew. My little helpers will learn this lesson as well, and I am determined to impart these skills in a manner that would make my sixth-grade computer teacher proud.
And I will begin today, right after I disinfect my fingernail.
This article was first published on October 8, 2015.
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Summary
This article humorously reflects the trials of delegating household chores to children, likening them to incompetent employees. It explores the lessons learned from childhood experiences with programming and outlines the importance of teaching children responsibility through chores. The author shares personal anecdotes that highlight the challenges of parenting and instilling a work ethic.