Community Chat

[Luv2Dnce]

😂

[RedTop]

Yes, my brothers and I had more chores than I can count.  I was the oldest, with brothers 4 and 9 years younger.  We took turns setting the supper table, but most nights I washed dishes and cleaned the kitchen.  The boys fed the hunting dogs, took scraps to the hogs, trimmed the grass, and baby brother carried cans and bottles to the trash barrel in the basement and kept the bins under the sink filled with potatoes and onions.  There was trash to burn twice a week and the job I hated more than anything was empty and wipe out the ashtrays.  My parents were very heavy smokers, but after years of cleaning ashtrays, I was never, ever, interested in smoking!  

From March to late November, we had pigs to feed after school every day.  Brother and I carried a 5 gallon bucket of water from the creek or dipped it from a rain barrel, added a 3 lb can of dry chop, stirred it and poured it down the shoot into the trough.  Summer found us in our garden out back or helping in Grandpa's garden and orchard.  We stacked the bales of hay in Grandpa's barn.  Since we heated with wood and coal, all 3 of us worked after school and on weekends to put wood in the basement.  We were "done" when we had 4 rows 15 ft long stacked even with the basement window.  We helped Grandpa with his wood too, but he used the tractor and wagon to bring it from the field where he cut it to the house, and usually threw it in the basement; we just had to stack it.  

Looking back I am grateful for Dad and Grandpa and the work ethic we learned from them that made us who we are today.  We are proud to own Dads part of the farm and pass it on to our children.  My daughters have never wanted to live anywhere else.

[Luv2Dnce]

Oh my gosh, planting corn! Lol.  wow, they give you some great job.

[Luv2Dnce]

I lived on a farm and took care of many animals and overall enjoyed it except when it was really really cold outside I dreaded going into the barn because it didn't have any heat.  Although, I loved living on a farm, some of the best years of my life.

[shoekitty]

I started pretty young. Mom didn't have any qualms about a 5 yr old using that hot, heavy iron to iron Dads handkerchiefs.  lol. I think I might have begged to do them. But ...it lead to harder stuff. lol I started out on handkerchiefs and then it was dishes, dusting, then ...l.my nemesis of all jobs....the dreaded linen closet   I hated that, and cleaning kitchen pantry.  Every Saturday I had chores for a couple hours.  My friends didn't.  At least it seemed they didn't, they were ways out playing, and waiting for me.  

[San Antonio Gal]

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@rms1954 wrote:

All of them, clearing the table, washing dishes, doing laundry, ironing,cleaning the bathroom, dusting, vacuuming, but the worst was washing the panelled walls.  There were four of us girls but i had to do it all since I was the oldest (and my mother hated me.)  Then when I was done I had to watch the two youngest kids outside.

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@rms1954  -  I'm so sorry you had to do all that as a child.  

[jellyBEAN]

The only chore I minded was washing the baseboards.  Another poster wrote about this.  I thought it was crazy, who ever looks at baseboards?  Fortunately, it wasn't a chore that was done all the time.

My mother began working when I was just getting into my teens.  As soon as I got home from school, I would dust and vacume, take care of the pets, and prepare a dessert for dinner.  She didn't ask me to do it, I just did it to help her out.  I guess I'm a bit of a neat freak.

Sometimes I see pictures of kids whose bedrooms are a total disaster area, that NEVER would happen in our house.  Both my parents were in the military during WW II and we learned to keep things tidy very early in life.  I can't stand clutter - its chaos.

[faeriemoon]

@chickenbutt Welcome back!!!  Where have you been?  Couldn't believe it when I started reading this thread and saw your nic.

[occasionalrain]

@jellyBEAN

My parents prioritized privacy. My bedroom was my business, they never entered it and I never entered theirs without knocking. 

[Lakelife62]

I hated washing the dishes and raking and bagging leaves. Looking back, I whined about it every time it was my turn. My kids whined even louder, so I got my payback.

Thanks Mom.