The division of labor starts early

I was checking my son's bathroom after his shower one night, and I was happy to see that he remembered to pick up after himself: His towel and clothes were not on the floor. Since that was the third night in a row he had remembered to pick up after himself without me reminding him, I told him how proud of him I was that he was able to help keep his bathroom clean, and that I expected him to keep it up.

Later, I wondered if my son thinks that picking up after himself is a chore. I would argue that it is not: Ensuring you are not leaving a mess for someone else to notice (and perhaps feel the need to pick up) is not really a chore in my book. It's just basic manners.

So now I am thinking through the items that my son does do for the good of the household, because those are the items that I consider to be chores.

And I want him to know that he should be doing chores. Lots of them.

It turns out that we are still not expecting our sons to do as many chores as our daughters. Or, we are expecting less from our sons. (That link mentions that some sons were given an allowance for things like "taking a shower." Seriously?!?) The point is: Everyone needs to know how to do chores.

As I run through the list of things my son helps with, I wonder if it is enough. Maybe I am not consistent enough in the tasks he is supposed to help with.

I may have to think this through more.

What type of chores are your children responsible for? Tell me in the comments.