The thing I dreaded the most was taking my younger brothers to the movies with me. It was in a neighboring town and I used my babysitting money to go. I was maybe twelve or thirteen, so they would have been six and nine. I remember whining that my other friends didn’t have to bring their brothers with them. Needless to say, I made them sit far away from me.
As for chores, I remember handing laundry on the clothesline as young as eight or nine. Pretty much the same for washing dishes but I am pretty sure I started with just drying them when my mother washed. By high school, I did all the family ironing and believe it or not, I enjoyed it. I’d put on several favorite records and iron all afternoon. I loved seeing the wrinkles disappearing. My brother who was three years younger than me, decided he would only wear white cotton button-down long sleeve shirts when he was in junior high. Of course they were cotton (this was the early 60s) and needed spray starch. I can still smell them as I ironed them.
The only chore I remember avoiding was when I was in high school. We had moved from Massachusetts to rural New Hampshire and my mother planted a vegetable garden. I hated weeding (we’d never heard of gardening gloves) and getting dirt under my fingernails. To this day, I dislike and avoid gardening of any kind.
What was your hated chore or thing you hated to do as a child?
Till next time…
I can’t recall one that I hated but I do remember one summer (I think I was in 6th or 7th grade) where my mom would leave me a list of chores to get done before she came home from work. I remember complaining about it yet I also remember the good things that came along with that list. I remember it gave me a sense of accomplishment and a target for a portion of my day. It served as a way to give some structure to my summer days.
However, I still remember having to wash every dish in the cupboard because my step-dad found a dirty dish. Looking back (I was in 6th grade so I think my sister was in 10th) it was an example of natural consequences but I hated it.
Amazing what we can learn…
Never was crazy about doing dishes…
I never minded washing, I hated drying (and still do, always air dry).
We had to do chores from early on, and I usually had more home responsibilities than most of my friends. I disliked doing the dishes which my sister and I had to do every night after supper while my parents watched the news.
I had to do the dishes every night in high school, I didn’t mind washing so my brothers had to dry. LOL!