I was browsing on Facebook last week and came across a video that stood out to me. It consisted of pictures of children doing chores and people on the internet, of course, creating a huge fuss about it. The primary issue was that some people believe that by giving children chores, mothers and fathers are, in essence, shirking their responsibility as parents. The video is below if you would like to watch it.

Allow me to provide some background information. I am a high school student that lives with a parent, and I believe that “chores,” though I hate to call them that, should be a fundamental aspect of a person’s youth. As a child, I was rarely paid or otherwise rewarded for doing “chores,” and I was generally expected to pick up after myself. Doing so never interrupted my childhood, school, or extracurriculars.

Most people that believe that children should be exempt from chores say that they take away from childhood or they take precious time away from school-related activities, which, in my experience, they do not. There have even been some people claiming that by giving children chores, parents are not only shirking their responsibility but also making the kids no better than glorified slaves. This seems to be a popular opinion actually, but it is quite the hyperbole.

I believe that parents shouldn’t give children “chores” and should simply build the expectation that they clean up after themselves. This way children do not expect a reward and will not consider housework a job but a part of life. Doing this also teaches children how to take care of themselves after they move out so that they do not rely on their mothers and fathers for everything even after separating themselves. In my experience with this technique, I have grown to be more mature than many of my peers and more independent as a whole. Learning how to do a fraction of what a mother a father do at a young age allows children to respect their parents more and hold some responsibility they wouldn’t otherwise have.

This is all based on how I grew up, but every parent is free to raise their children however they wish, whether that be no chores, paid chores, or simply the expectation of cleanliness.