Dear Jackrabbit #20 — Isn’t It Time To Do Some Chores?

Dear Jackrabbit,

I’m talking about doing chores today, boy.

I’m not going to try to speak for your mother’s experience–only my own. I think everyone’s experience when it comes to dealing with chores while growing up is different.

There are some who had very little in the way of chores. There are some who had a quite a lot. I think I fall somewhere in the middle–perhaps leaning toward more than less than average, but not abusively so.

This is what a washing machine looked like in the 1970s.

I think that the first chores my brothers and I were assigned were the simple “clean up you room” and “make your bed” variety. Hardly onerous. Cleaning up our room made sense. Get the dirty clothes to the hamper, pick up the toys and books and whatnot. Why is there a half-eaten apple under the bed? Out it goes.

Sure, it didn’t make much sense to make a bed that was only going to get mussed up again by nightfall. Even as an adult, I don’t fully get it, but I suppose if I were to search for some meaning for a meaningless chore, it might be that either a.) the room just looks nicer when the bed is made, and b.) making the bed daily contributes to maintaining a habit of discipline and order. I might also add that if you’re going to be doing something like, say, homework in your bedroom, a neat bed will make it easier to concentrate.

I know that sounds weird, but there is some truth to it. While I think keeping an immaculate work space all the time is the sign of a diseased mind, there is also a point in which the chaos of one’s surroundings becomes too distracting and work and peace of mind suffers. You’ll probably identify this in me as you grow to observe me sitting at my desk working until the piles of papers, coffee cups, and chicken bones rises to a cerrtain point where I start babbling in Old Norse, pull at my hair, rake my fingers through my beard (thereby dislodging more chicken bones), and scream “FFUUUCCK!”–after which I will get my desk back to an orderly fashion and resume work in a peaceful and efficient manner.

So there’s that.

Beyond personal maintenance chores, the Teehan boys started to do household chores. Pretty easy to start out. Sweep the kitchen. Vacuum the living room. Take out the trash.

Simple stuff.

As we got older–certainly by age ten–we started helping out with the laundry. First it was put the laundry away. Then it was fold and put away. Then it was load the dryer, dry, fold, then put away. Then it was use the washing machine, dryer, fold, and put away.

At a certain point, we became responsible for the upkeep of our own clothes. Fair enough. Three boys? Sure, that can be a lot of laundry. We even learned how to iron. That’s why you rarely see your old man wearing anything expect plaid flannel shirts in cooler months, and Hawaiian shirts during the warmer months. This is why your dad prefers jeans to slacks.

Still, at least I know how to iron clothes, and it’s come in handy once in a while.
In addition to laundry, there was animal upkeep. We had to feed the dog. Feed the cats. Clean out the cat litter. There was also the maintenance of a variety of smaller animals–pet mice, gerbils, hamsters, hermit crabs, etc. We also had a pet goat for quite a while. I think one of the very first Dear Jackrabbit posts I wrote described the process of getting up and mixing formula into a bottle for the goat when it was young. I then compared it to feeding you. (See? This is an example of having chores when young pays off later in life.)

In addition to feeding Peggy (the goat), there was cleaning out her stall, corralling her when she’d get out of the stall, pitching hay, sweeping up, shoveling out, etc.

Dish-panned hands grow character.

Oh, and there was dish-washing. And dish drying. And dish putting away-ing. I actually got into this for a while. I’d insist on doing the dishes and after-dinner cleanup, but only if everyone got the hell out of kitchen and gave me control of the little black and white TV or the radio. The kitchen became my domain and when I was done with the washing and drying and so forth, I’d sit with a nice cup of coffee and sit and read, or draw, or do homework, or plan out one of my massive D&D campaigns, or whatever.

But yeah, a family of five kicks out a lot of dishes.

Now this might sound like my parents (your grandparents) just sat around eating bonbons and high-fiving each other and celebrating all of the free labor they scored in having three boys. I’d like to think they did this once or twice if for no other reason than it proves that they had a similar sense of humor as me.

In actuality, both my parents worked hard to give us a decent living. Having us boys do chores helped make this possible. Keeping house is a pretty nonstop sort of job, and the relief of knowing that we weren’t devolving into barbarity made them being able to work easier.

It got easier, also, when the boys started cooking. And all three of us turned out to be excellent cooks. Better cooks, I feel confident in saying, than either of our parents. My specialties were stews and chili. I was also pretty good with oven-baked tomato chicken, ribs, and chops. There was also a poor man’s pot roast I used to make that was pretty good. Haven’t made that in a while. We even did the grocery shopping on occasion.

All of those chores helped make transitioning to life on my own easier. When I moved out at 18 and into my own apartment, I was pretty much able to take care of myself right at the start. I had some friends who had no experience with things like laundry or shopping or cooking.

Now… I’m not saying that I’m the most chore-conscious person in the world these days. I’m still pretty lazy when you come right down to it. But, at the same time, we’ve not devolved into barbarity–nor does it appear we will in the immediate future.

Just the same, boy, I’m looking forward to you pitching in. I could use a break.

But before I sign off, let me acknowledge that our respective childhoods are very different. It seems like kids are busier these days, and have fuller schedules than when I was a kid.

Obviously we’re going to try to strike some kind of balance that makes you both well-rounded, but also doesn’t affect your school work. There will be some hiccups or even mistakes along the way, but we promise to be fair.

But, boy, there will be chores.

Hmmm… how about, for a start, emptying the diaper pail. Empty the diaper pail and daddy will give you a dollar.

All my love,

–Dad

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About jdteehan

John is a proud geek and nerd, a publisher, a freelancer, and a new dad. He's into books, gaming, and music. He's a good cook, a passing musician and artist, and terrible fisherman. The biggest thing in his life right now is being a new dad and he has started a blog all about that. Visit Dearjackrabbit.com for more on that. Also visit Merryblacksmith.com for word on publishing projects.
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