Boy Chores or Girl Chores?
By bluuyze
@bluuyze (67)
United States
December 13, 2006 10:53am CST
A discussion started by west_tx_goddess inspired me to start this discussion. She asked if she should teach her kids to do chores. I answered her the obvious answer (well, to me anyway) which is yes. It also sparked my memory of when I was younger, the way chores went in my house was like this:
Boy chores: cutting the grass, any outdoor stuff like cutting branches or putting up christmas lights
Girl chores: do the dishes, vacuuming, dusting, washing clothes, cooking, etc, inside stuff.
That is soooo barbaric to me!! I only had 1 brother, so I always felt he had to do less chores than me, which I hated. On the other hand, he will not know how to do dishes or his laundry when he moves out, so I feel sorry for him. I think boys and girls as children should be taught how to do all jobs, to be well rounded. This is not the 1800s, chores should not be sexist.
5 people like this
38 responses
@jillbeth (2705)
• United States
13 Dec 06
I agree, it is important for boys and girls to learn how to handle all types of chores, for their own benefit. Traditionally, women took care of the inside of the home, and the lawn care and maintence type chores were left to the men, but our gender roles are not as divided as in previous generations. More young people are living on their own now, not going directly from the parents to marriage, and it is necessary to have all types of skills. It is as important for a young man to know how to operate a stove or washing machine as it is for a young woman to be able to handle tools and small repair jobs around the home. When I was a young woman, I did not learn much maintenance type chores, but since I have been my husband's third hand all these years, I have learned how to change oil in my car, wire electrical sockets, do plumbing and drywall repair, and other skills. I feel that if I were left on my own (heaven forbid!) I would be much better prepared to handle everyday life.
@4monsters4me (2569)
• United States
14 Dec 06
I feel the same way. All children should learn to do all chores. Right now in my house the kids chores are mostly keeping their room picked up and putting clean clothes away. They are still young. My oldest is 6. When they do other chores so far my daughter is the one that does the dishes simply because she has the ability. She can get the dishes clean. My other two are 5 and 4 and can't do them yet. My son takes the garbage out, just because he is biggest and can lift the bags. But as soon as the kids are able my son will be doing dishes and vacuuming (he will probably be the first to learn to vacuum because the girls aren't strong enough to push the vacuum) and laundry. And the girls will learn to take out the garbage and if we ever have a yard they will cut grass and do all that. I also plan to teach my son the sew (he seems very interested right now).
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
14 Dec 06
Yes, I have to agree with you on this one.
To be fair, it is still quite natural for people to associate certain duties as being either a man's job or a woman's job, and it is not so much sexist as simply an oversight.
As you say, there is no reason today why a girl cannot do the gardening or a boy do the housework. After all, this is preparation for the future so equality should be promoted as part of a child's education, this way it will be more likely to be accepted as natural.
@SViswan (12051)
• India
14 Dec 06
I totally agree with you. When I was growing up, we had to do chores at home. We were two girls...so I have no idea if my mother would be sexist and give different chores to a boy and girl (I don't think she would). But my dad grew up with 8 siblings and grandma single handedly brought them all up. There were no difference between boys and girls. all of them had to do all the chores..except that the chores were rotated so that everyone got a chance to do everything. And all of them turned out great. All my uncles and aunts are in great jobs now and are capable of managing things on their own.
@jonastabuena (2307)
• Philippines
14 Dec 06
that's a nice idea, but you must consider that, not all girls can do the boys chores, and i think it is a very awkward to see a girl doing a boy chores, other people might think that she a lesbian or vice versa..
@deep1608 (321)
• India
14 Dec 06
Hey u r right....n may be somehow yes its fault of our parents....And somehow watching them doing all this,we also develop a similar tendency n do the same with our kids....
I think both guys n gals should be capable enough of doing all his jobs all by himself/herself!!!!
I thank my god my parents have brought me up that way...I can do ething...right from house chores to ething that extends in our daily living :)
@ms_sandman (13)
• Philippines
14 Dec 06
well that's true,so how about you teach your bro. to do some of your chores so that he can experience your work!!!you can be his guide....
@misskatonic (3723)
• United States
14 Dec 06
Oh, I hate gender divisions. There are no such things as girls or boys chores. Chores are chores, and any kid should know how to handle all aspects of keeping up a house. There's no gauranty that anyone's going to get married, and kids could be growing up to take care of a house by themself. They should know how to handle everything.
@xenoist (41)
• Indonesia
14 Dec 06
A discussion started by west_tx_goddess inspired me to start this discussion. She asked if she should teach her kids to do chores. I answered her the obvious answer (well, to me anyway) which is yes. It also sparked my memory of when I was younger, the way chores went in my house was like this: Boy chores: cutting the grass, any outdoor stuff like cutting branches or putting up christmas lights Girl chores: do the dishes, vacuuming, dusting, washing clothes, cooking, etc, inside stuff. That is soooo barbaric to me!! I only had 1 brother, so I always felt he had to do less chores than me, which I hated. On the other hand, he will not know how to do dishes or his laundry when he moves out, so I feel sorry for him. I think boys and girls as children should be taught how to do all jobs, to be well rounded. This is not the 1800s, chores should not be sexist.
@shraddha_chandwadkar (135)
• United States
14 Dec 06
I totally agree with you. Boys too should be asked to cook, clean, do the laundry, dishes etc and girls should be given an opportunity to explore the outdoors. Sometimes though jobs like lawn mowing might not be very easy for a girl if she is physically weak or it can also happen that a boy is physically weak and cannot do such stuff.
