Do teenage boys still do chores around the house??

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted By: John_K
I just love when I see or hear parents say they "try" to get their kid to do this or that. Try? When I was a kid I had a choice: do what I was told, or do what I was told with a sore behind.

+1

It is amazing to me the laziness of some kids and the lousy parenting that goes along with it. I'm 26, and I still help out my parents as much as possible.

In high school I had good grades, worked after school and on weekends, and still did chores like lawn mowing, yard work, wood splitting, helping with my dad's garden, etc.

 

[SZR48207]

Hard times create strong men.
Strong men create good times.
Good times create weak men.
Weak men create hard times.

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted By: Reddy45
Hard times create strong men.
Strong men create good times.
Good times create weak men.
Weak men create hard times.


Excellent

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: madRiver
All you folks love the hard work instilled however let's ask a realistic question. How successful are you career wise because parents made you do chores. I am guessing it helps but curious.

I only have my 11 year old assist. My 9 year old suffers with ADHD (no treatment by meds) so it is very difficult for us to keep her on task.


Have to wonder if it's statistically backed up. I mean, good kids come from bad homes; and vice versa. As we all know, back in the old days, spankings etc were more common--yet complaints about how society is going down the tubes goes back for centuries.

 

[Brons2]

Originally Posted By: madRiver
I disagree a bit on with above on paying/helping for education beyond high school in modern world. Responsible parents help any way they can.


Yes, the rise in cost for a college education has far outstripped inflation since I went to school in the early 90s.

When I was in college, you could still pay your way just by working a job full time.

Nowadays, no way.

 

[blupupher]

Originally Posted By: Brons2
Originally Posted By: madRiver
I disagree a bit on with above on paying/helping for education beyond high school in modern world. Responsible parents help any way they can.


Yes, the rise in cost for a college education has far outstripped inflation since I went to school in the early 90s.

When I was in college, you could still pay your way just by working a job full time.

Nowadays, no way.

I have 5 nephews and a niece all in college, all paying their own way. All work full time in the summer, some work full time year round, the others part time during the school year.
2 are going to local community college. Niece has a partial 4 year scholarship for softball. 2 are going to BYU (one in grad school), and the last one is going to University of Utah.
Only one of them is living at home. Two are married (3rd is engaged).

 

[Malo83]

My next door neighbor has three boys, 9, 17 and 20, they have lived here for 10 yrs now and I only saw the boys cut the lawn ONCE! the guy still does his yard work while the boys are inside the house

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Originally Posted By: madRiver
I disagree a bit on with above on paying/helping for education beyond high school in modern world. Responsible parents help any way they can.

You raise adults not kids.
This means Independent of you.
Not enabling them, you would be surprised how different money gets spent when you are responsible for it's income.
My Dad used to always say, I am not going to live forever so don't depend on me.
Too many parents want to be their kids friends and less like their employer and prepping them for the Real World. Soft parenting does not work.


My neighbors 3 children never did outside chores. All three have graduated to become a petroleum engineer, lawyer and government worker(Georgetown grad) all on parents dime. All imho are quite successful but mum had to return to work as pharmacist and they drove a ranger and dodge
Caravan. I am curious all those chiming in how successful your ways are and your kids. I am still trying to figure balance of chores vs time as kid.

My eldest does a ton of sports and excels as athlete and student. She has little time to be a kid. My youngest seems most adept at helping us at age 3. My middle child 9 is so much work but some chores to her ability help.

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted By: madRiver
All you folks love the hard work instilled however let's ask a realistic question. How successful are you career wise because parents made you do chores. I am guessing it helps but curious.

I will be honest I grew up with parents who gave us really too much and no chores except dinner dishes and lawn mowing. My sister is head of nursing at hospital, I am lead architect at tech company and brother VP of risk compliance at a financial company. We never paid for college (parents did) and all are self sufficient. I am not saying doing chores or paying your own way is bad just not sure it is a recipie for success.

My parents pressed us to study hard.

 

[Nyogtha]

My father was also an aircraft mechanic / aircraft armorer during WWII. He also had no college degree, and didn't get his GED until after my baby sister started school. He left school and home at age 14 during the Great Depression due to an abusive household. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his intellect just a lack of formal education that truly made him a self-made man. He also had a ton of mechanical aptitude that I only have a fraction of.

We all had routine chores plus helping him and my mom out with projects around the house. We were expected to not just bring home good grades but to excel in school. The only real reward I ever got for grades was a single shot 20 gauge shotgun from Woolco in 7th grade so I could do more than watch when my dad & I went hunting.

It took me 10 years to get my bachelors degree working & going to school. I didn't want my parents paying for my education as they had worked hard & had hard lives and my dad retired at age 62 right after I graduated high school and passed away 7 years later.

Even with a late start to my career I was able to retire at age 50 when my health got to where I could no longer work. I poured a river of money into both my brother and my sister, especially for the sake of their kids. Thankfully my sister has finally turned her life around, my brother is a lost cause. All I can do is wait for him to cross a line enough for me to get power of attorney over him.

So having a good work ethic and high expectations instilled in us as we were raised didn't keep my brother & sister from their chosen paths. What I say set me apart was a high degree of respect for my parents and what they accomplished, a personal ethic for taking responsibility for my own actions & choices, and not wanting my choices and actions to have repercussions on others. This seems to be a less and less popular outlook as time goes by but my brothers' children are all adults now and all have a similar perspective to me now. My sister still has 2 kids at home and they both have good scholastic & work attitudes, all are eschewing what they saw my siblings do.

 

[DBMaster]

I pretty much think almost all "conventional wisdom" regarding the rearing of children is bunk. I have seen plenty of siblings who ended up with completely different lives after being parented in the same house. Strict upbringing, liberal upbringing, spanking, not spanking; it's all a big carpshoot. And the poster earlier who said that every generation seems to bemoan the declining morals and ethics of subsequent generations hit the nail right on the head.

 

[KrisZ]

Since when is a successful career / being wealthy is a sign of a good human being or good upbringing? A lot of the very successful people, some of them adored by the public, are not what most would consider a decent human being.

Good upbringing doesn't guarantee anything, especially being wealthy.

 

[DBMaster]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am not really able to define "success." I do feel it has nothing to do with money, title, or position. It is more of an internal thing. I equate it more with well being than anything outwardly visible. Good upbringing may improve the odds, but overall there are no guarantees in life.

 

[4WD]

Reliable source - Zee09 has indicated that Blake’s poor old dad cuts the grass …

 

[dlundblad]

I like old threads.

I think it depends on the parents. Heck, if the ‘rents have no work ethic, how will the kids turn out?

There’s also the parents who suck and make their kids do everything. Those are the ones who typically have a net worth of about 25% of their kids when they are at retirement age.

 

[BMW Dom]

I cut the grass, and help clean the house.

 

[Dave Hess]

My kids were doing yard work when they were 12-13 years old.

 

[xgmad]

Yeah! I help my dad with almost everything everyday since he can't really see that well, I had to maintain all cars there were, help my dad with doing alot of renovations for a very long time around the house, once I climbed the roof on our house to replace some asphalt that had blown off , it was a good view up there, its a tall house.

I used to mow the lawn until the blade bent, now I am waiting on new blade, and a new weedeater carb because I thought mixing acetone with 2 stroke oil would be a good idea, LOL.

Our house has a staircase leading upstairs and we both had to replace alot of the old rotten wood boards and stuff since termites got to it,
we spent until 4 in the morning replacing cabinets and everything too, lol!

If I didn't want to go to college, I have options, but I go to college because why not,

but life boring, I go become marine reservist after this is over with, because why not, I flipped a coin and Army was heads, marines was tails, so marines it is!

 

[Kestas]

My dad did a good job providing for the family. This included working overtime. He set a good example for me. I did what I could around the house (mowing, painting, light repairs) enjoying teenage responsibilities so he could spend his time making real money for the family as an engineer.

 

[vavavroom]

Mine did. He still helps out when he comes to visit me.