Why I make my toddlers do chores

You're never too young to help do the dishes

In praise of chores!
(Image credit: iStock)

When I was growing up in the '80s, it was rare to meet a child who didn't have a list of household chores he was expected to complete on a daily basis. My own chore list included picking my dirty laundry up off the floor, setting and bussing the table at mealtimes, and helping with the dishes. These are pretty simple tasks, and while I'm sure I complained about having to do them, I understand the value of what my mother was trying to teach me: namely, self-reliance and responsibility.

Nowadays, it seems that one is more likely to find a unicorn than a kid who helps around the house. We can laugh all we want about the fact that #adulting is perpetually trending, but by not expecting, nay, demanding, that today's kids do their part around the family homestead, we're raising a generation of entitled people who quite literally don't know how to do the most basic things for themselves. I refuse to let my children turn into spoiled, helpless adults living in a filth of their own making. They may only be 3 and 4, but they are perfectly capable of doing their part around the house.

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Anna Lane

Anna Lane is a writer, editor, and public speaker with a focus on humor and parenting. Her work has appeared on The Stir, Scary Mommy, Domino, The Huffington Post, and other media outlets. She lives in Los Angeles with her two children, her husband, and a never-ending pile of laundry. Anna chronicles the ups and downs of parenting on her blog, Misadventures in Motherhood.