Children's Chores

Mrs. Child, that Frugal Housewife of 1832, advises us to have children do lots of things for themselves. She says,

“Children can early be taught to take all the care of their clothes.
They can knit garters, suspenders, and stockings; they can make patchwork and braid straw; they can make mats for the table, and mats for the floor; they can weed the garden, and pick cranberries from the meadow, to be carried to market.”

Well, that was 175 years ago, and things are a bit different now. I can tell you that I never let my kids get near the washer and dryer! Not because I didn’t like to do the job (see Jan. 31 blog), but because I didn’t want them to wreck those precious machines. My Aunt Mary said that every time she went by her dryer, she patted it and thanked it for being there. I understand totally. I never wanted the kids to use my iron either. I remember when I was a teenager and Mother was a registered nurse who wore starched white uniforms every day. She never wanted me to use (or abuse) the iron, and she DEFINITELY didn’t want me to iron her uniforms. So you can bet that’s exactly what I WANTED to do. Maybe that’s why I’ve always liked ironing?!

Anyway, how could kids today take care of their own clothing? I suppose it’s not too much to ask that they take their dirty laundry to the laundry room. I’ve tried that. When they were teens, I threatened that if they didn’t take the dirty clothes to the basement, they would not have any clean clothes to wear. For the most part I stuck with this one, but that doesn’t mean that they learned to “take care of their own clothes.” I could never get any of them into the habit of putting their clean clothes away. Mate socks? Never. Hang up their coats? Seldom. And I’m not a bit unusual. Most mothers have the same complaints. Mrs. Child where are you? We need you today!