Not all parents give teens chores. Some parents worry their teen is too busy with school work and extra-curricular activities to worry about cleaning the house. Other parents have simply given up because their teen refuses to do chores.
Chores are an important part of growing up. Clearing the table, cleaning the dishes, and keeping the house clean serve an important purpose. Here are seven reasons that show why it’s important for teens to have chores:
1. Chores Teach Responsibility
Chores teach you that you can’t always spend your time doing whatever you feel like. Instead, you may have to do work, including unpleasant chores, when you would rather be visiting with friends or watching TV.
2. Chores Teach Skills
Teens need to learn basic housekeeping skills – like how to do laundry and how to clean a bathroom. By doing different type of chores around the house regularly, you will develop knowledge of how to keep a house clean. These life skills will increase your independence.
3. Earning an Allowance Helps You Learn About Money
When you get rewarded for completing certain chores, it sets a foundation for what employers expect from employees – you have to do your job to earn your pay check. No one (in the real world) will simply hand you cash if you don’t do your job.
You may also start to learn skills on how to manage money wisely by living on a budget, and establishing rules about spending.
4. Chores are Part of Being a Family
Do not expect to be paid for everything you do! Carrying your dish to the sink, or putting your dirty clothes in the hamper isn’t exactly worthy of being rewarded.
Being part of a family means that everyone pitches in to do their share to help one another, and how much can you pay your parents for the food, shelter, education and clothing, among other things that they provide anyway?
5. Chores Prepare You for the Working World
Chores can begin to instill a work ethic that is needed in the working world. Chores teach time management skills as you figure out how to juggle responsibilities like homework and time with friends.
6. You Show that You are not Self-Centred
Instead of having others do all the work around the house, including picking up after you, all their spare time is spent doing household chores. But if you help to get things done around the house, you will be freeing up time for others to relax too, and spend quality time on themselves, and with the family.
7. You Gain a Sense of Accomplishment
Although most teens complain about doing chores – after all, cleaning the bathroom isn’t exactly fun – but,completing chores will give you a sense of accomplishment. A teen who regularly completes chores will begin to feel a sense of mastery and an increased sense of responsibility.
And there you have it. Being an adult is more than just having the liberty to call the shots, attached with it are responsibilities too. Why not start the training now?