Do your share around the home

Cool Talk Me Up with Swag Mama
This past week we received many messages from teens asking where parents should draw the line between training and child labour. Some teens complained about being made to do household chores like cleaning the dishes yet there is a maid employed to do that.
So let us talk about it. Should you be made to do chores around the house or is that child abuse and you should be left alone to do your school work, play, chat with your friends, watch TV and just lounge around?

I believe that even if your parents are rich enough to afford several workers to do everything, you still need to do your share around the home. Just like education prepares you for a career, doing chores around the house prepares you for self-sufficiency as you grow up.

You are not going to take a maid to cook, wash and iron for you when you go to college. In many developed countries most people cannot afford to hire domestic workers. It is better for you to learn to do it now rather than struggle later.

Doing chores around the house will keep you grounded and sensitive to other people’s feelings and needs. If you have never prepared a meal, how can you ever appreciate the effort that the cook puts into it?

Another point is that most domestic workers need training and stringent monitoring, which you can only do if you understand the task yourself. Do you know that there are many people who are running thriving businesses built on manual work?

Things like office cleaning services, gardening and landscape services as well as maid and gardener placement are just an example. Maybe an opportunity lies for you in that field.

There is no shame in manual work, even for the most intelligent human being would not be able to exist if there was no one farming, cleaning and cooking to keep the world going. Take pride in being a productive and useful human being instead of whining like a spoiled brat.