Why do kids really need to do chores?
The answer to that question was recently highlighted in an Uncommon Knowledge production with Peter Robinson and U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse. As Sasse implies, kids need chores in order to form the habits and strong work ethic which has been lost as people have moved away from the family farm and into a post-industrial society:
“This is not agrarian romanticism. It is an awareness that if you separate work from the household, as we’ve done, and so kids come of age with lots of material surplus and very little exposure to production. You’re going to have to create something that’s going to feel a little bit artificial but that is a structured way of habit-forming, that build[s] a work ethic, even when necessity didn’t mandate it.”
If chores are such a valuable part of building a child’s work ethic, then why aren’t we putting them to work? Surveys show that less than 30 percent of parents require their children to perform chores.
The answer to that, Sasse notes, is that we’ve allowed schooling and consumption to take precedence, and that’s a surefire way to promote unhappiness:
“I think modern social science shows us that production makes people happy. Consumption doesn’t. Right now our kids are not being raised with an instinctive, in the belly exposure to a distinction between production and consumption. We’re occupying our kids time with schooling and progression through grades as if that’s their work and then when they’re not in school it’s just different types of consumption. We don’t burden them with having to understand the distinction between needs and wants. Well, that burdening with them is a real serious love.”
Do you think we would see happier, well-adjusted, and hard-working young adults if more parents insisted that their children pull their share of labor around the household?
“Trouble springs from Idleness, and grievous Toil from needless Ease.” – Benjamin Franklin, 1758
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Image Credit: U.S. Air Force photo /Staff Sgt. Emerson Nuñez
This article was updated in 2024 to remove dead links and photos.
1 Comment
CoramDeo
June 23, 2024, 4:16 amI responded to a comment on student debt forgiveness where the question was asked,
"What work is someone without an education or skills going to get, that pays $60k to cover the college costs, but still leaves them time to go to school? "
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What work is someone without an education or skills going to get, that pays $60k to cover the college costs, but still leaves them time to go to school? Please think before commenting.
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4TheRepublic:
Skills: My two homeschooled daughters each began working at around ages 10-11 as weekend gardening aides for local seniors. They were also very active in girl scouts and church ministries which taught them to serve others.
REPLYBy ages 16 & 12 together they were moving hand pipe on 13 acres of alfalfa fields twice a day / 7 days a week. They made good money and by the time they began to apply for non-domestic type jobs they cake walked into them at top wages offered and quickly got pay increases; never once were they turned down on an application because the businesses were impressed by their already proven work ethic; several of those early jobs were in industries that earned tips – they knew how to serve with a smile because they knew the value of being otherly.
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College Costs: By the time each of them went to university (not something I pushed them towards) they had purchased their own vehicles and had established lines of credit with multiple banks. One waited to begin higher education working two jobs to have sufficient savings back up and the other one took a year's break mid-college to do the same. They earned 2 BS degrees (honors & high honors), a BFA & a Master's degree with around $45K outstanding total between them.
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Time: What they were NOT doing was partying or wasting their time & money on frivolous majors. They both joined various 'campus clubs' which taught them cooperative team work and increased their understanding of what it would take to succeed in their chosen careers. Both either changed majors or added a new one to be able to live life according to their gifts and goals.
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The commenter went on to then post about the economy in CA with $ figures about costs, I replied thus:
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The last I knew in CA kids can legally begin domestic work at age 13 (child care, gardening, house cleaning, etc.) And with parental guidance there are innumerable kinds of entrepreneurial businesses young kids are capable of starting, whether or not they generate income, which teach good work ethic, fund raising and involved citizenship. No child should reach the age of majority without having had some work experience and good references for having done so.
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The value of learning to work, save and budget are just as important, if not more so, as any academic skills public schools teach. And schools in America are doing a, pardon my french, ‘piss poor’ job of that. If a child's school isn't teaching these important financial life skills (and few do so) it's the parent’s job to make sure their kids are learning 'Basic Adulting 101' in multiple areas long before they graduate. During the HS years making sure a child has pursued objective (non-public school union controlled pipelines that feed the our broken system) career counseling is a parental priority – "What Color is Your Parachute" is just one of many books that guide without bias while focusing on one's personal gifts and interests to seek tailor made future goals.
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There are no rules that say anyone must start college the same year they graduate HS or that someone needs to move out of their parent's home at that time either. Starting at a local community college to take the gen Ed courses required for higher degrees can be done – part time if necessary – while saving for more expensive Ed options; and is something that is sure to impress employers. If their higher Ed goals involve moving out of the family home having multiple roommates to share living expenses cuts your estimates dramatically, not to mention that it fosters learning the skills of getting along with others (another great skill employers look for.)
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