Children and Work

My Dad told me at the age of fourteen, that I would one day want a car. I, of course, did not oppose his assumption. “Well you’re gonna have ta work fer it,” he told me. So that summer, he hooked me up with a job in construction. I worked as hard as a fourteen year old boy could and my boss told me I worked like my dad, always on the go. I took pride in his compliment. If there was anyone in the world I had wanted to be compared to, it would have been my dad. Needless to say, I did not make a killing that summer: five dollars an hour, cutting trees, dragging brush, and digging and filling holes. It got me started though, and more importantly, gave me a taste of what it meant to work for something. I believe that the values of a culture or community greatly impact the education a person receives. And believe it or not, there are several cultures in America that directly disagree with each other. For example, I used to live in the mountains, near a small town. Men were men: manly men. They were hard working providers. A man was judged by his peers on how well his family functioned. Then I moved south, near the beach and the youth of America, and the culture was backwards. The community did not expect a young man to participate in hard manual labor but to go to college and use his mind. Although both afore mentioned cultures likely value family, the course in which they take in providing for the family is completely different, one frowning upon the other.
Whether by using one’s mind or by using one’s hands, I think it wise to teach a child the meaning of work and chores.
“[I’ve witnessed] the child doing all the dirty work and the parents getting the fun: Mom cooks and Sis does the dishes; the parents plan and plant the garden, the kids weed it. To me, what this teaches the child is the lesson of alienated labor…” (pg. 274) stated Jane Smiley in an essay against chores. She argues that parents should not subject their children to chores but instead never expect them to lift a finger. Smiley states that she thinks that to force a child to do chores would teach a child to hate work.
I must point out, however, that if someone does not first learn how to follow, how can they possibly learn to lead? In other words, if someone does not learn how and why a garden needs to be weeded, how could they ever be expected to know how to plan and plant it? In my opinion, chores do not enslave children, but teach them why. Why do we do the things we do? Why does the garden need to be weeded? Why do the dishes need to be cleaned? Why do the dogs need to be fed? Why do the floors need to be mopped, the bathrooms cleaned, the laundry done? Do we do it all for our health? I assure you, no. Most middle class people did not become middle class people because they left their house in a shambles or waited till the bathtub was so disgusting that it would benefit them more to clean it than to leave it. What answer corresponds to the question “Why”? To put it simply, teach children responsibility and prepare them for life. Imagine someone who grew up never having washed laundry. They would quickly come to find, I’m sure, they were out of things to wear.
I, of course, disagree with Jane Smiley full heartedly. I remember the times I did chores when I was young. Although, at times, I complained about them then, feeding the dogs, mowing the lawn, I knew then and I know now why I had to do those things. Yes they taught me responsibility, but more importantly, they built character. Doing chores helped me become a person afraid to get dirty, change the oil in my neighbor’s car, or help an elderly lady change a flat tire. Doing chores taught me integrity, and gave me a new respect for my parents who worked all day to provide for me. Before long, I remember, I was not doing chores because I had to, but because I wanted to. I wanted to help out. If I could do something to make things easier on my parents, I jumped to it. For example, I would pick up my laundry, rinse my dishes, take the garbage out, or wash the vehicle. Parents do so much for their children it would be decent to do something in return, to honor their parents, and to thank them.
There are, however, some chores I still loathe. If my siblings or I had been disrespectful in any way, our punishment was not a spanking (although that was not out of the question) but it was to pick rock. We had a very rocky yard, so as a punishment, we were to grab a five gallon bucket, go out into the yard, and fill the bucket with rocks to dump in the nearby woods. This was punishment indeed but it taught us character. After my first rock picking experience, I did not get into much trouble. I cannot say the same for my older brother though. I’m quite sure he de-rocked about eighty percent of our yard, with a knuckled head.
So in saying, Jane Smiley argues that chores give children the wrong idea of work but I do not agree. Chores and work for children can build character, teach responsibility, and nurture a child to adulthood.


Works Cited
Smiley, Jane. “The Case Against Chores.” To The Point. Gilbert H. Muller and Harvey S. Wiener. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2009. 274-276.