I could not disagree with you on the subject of children and chores more. That a child is capable of doing something doesn’t make it age appropriate nor the child’s responsibility. Teaching children skills and making them do regular chores is not the same thing. Although we should teach our children skills we should not burden them with regular chores. Play is the work of childhood.

I have examined the research. There is not any study to the effect that chores really help kids [not even the Harvard Study, which I have examined]. In fact, the only study I found that came close to testing this idea was a 2003 study by the University of Amsterdam. In this study, researchers found,“A direct (negative) path was found between the number of chores assigned and school success (GPA)” … that negative correlation was likely because “too many chores and responsibilities interfere with schoolwork.” Again, there is no evidence that doing chores contribute to a child’s success. The Minnesota research was not peer-reviewed and thus unreliable.

Kids should NOT be made to do chores. The housework is NOT the child’s responsibility. The parents are the carers and providers. The children are NOT the help. Kids should PLAY, not WORK. Schoolwork, including home school academic work is plenty enough. Chores are not difficult to learn anyone can in MINUTES. It’s not the child’s role to contribute to the family. As for self-confidence, deep relationship, pride, etc. can be gained via many other ways. These include play, art, sports, family time, etc.

Absolutely EVERYTHING can and is taught without chores thus making them redundant. The only reason any parent would insist on making kids do chores is so the parents have less work which is a bad reason and amounts to taking advantage of kids. By chores, I mean tasks such as doing the laundry, mopping / sweeping floors, washing the family dishes,
loading / unloading dishwashers, cleaning toilets / bathrooms, etc. obviously a parent can teach a child how to do anything WITHOUT making it the child’s job / responsibility.

I am thankful that my parents did not require regular chores from my sister and me growing up in the 1980s. I am grateful we had true parents who respected our childhood. And I NEVER had problems with performing any chore. Both my sister, me and EVERYONE I grew up with are living proof that regular chores for kids are worthless… well maybe just take a load off lazy parents. Do you know how long it took me to learn for example laundry? 10 minutes! I had the cleanest room at Seminary, or everyone said so. So the nonsense doesn’t stick with me.

Sincerely,
Themistoklis J. Papaioannou

PS: Even the phrase used by many “we are not raising children, we are raising adults” is wrong. No, you are raising CHILDREN who will GROW INTO adults. RESPECT CHILDHOOD.