Most Americans don't focus on teaching their children the importance of cleaning after themselves from an early age, and what I mean by "early age" I am speaking about from the ages of five to eight. A lot of children are taught how to do certain chores around the age of twelve and thirteen, and that is where some parents mess up. They mess up in the sense that they wait until their kids are reaching their teen years and everyone knows that during the early stages of becoming a teen, most children become rebellious and lazy. They don't want to be doing chores their mother has asked for them to do, instead they are too focused on spending time out with friends, going on their first date, shopping, going to the school dance, etc.
Growing up in a Hispanic home, every Sunday was house chore day. Every family member had a section of the house to clean, and I remember realizing this was a thing from the age of six. My mother had me cleaning my room and washing the dishes. She would always extend my chores, for instance when she would tell me to clean up my room she would want me to do my bed, clean my mirror, pick up my toys, fold any piece of clothing laying around, and sweep! One cleaning duty turned into five!
Being exposed to doing chores at an early age where every other child was focused on cartoons, games, and toys has benefit me today as an adult. I find myself to be more responsible, pick up after myself without others reminding me, and doing chores isn't much of a drag it is actually soothing. Their are adults out there who can't even clean a plate properly. Another way how doing chores at an early age has benefit me, is that it is also a relaxation method. When a person is cleaning nothing is really on their mind, they are too focused on what they are doing that it actually gets a person's mind off things so growing up I didn't struggle with stress as much as other kids.
Although, these are a couple of the benefits i gained there are also disadvantages to exposing your kids to chores too early. Some of the disadvantages are that they can grow up whinny, they will also complain about doing chores before they actually get to completing them. I would always nag to my parents on how ridiculous some of the chores they gave me were. But after getting yelled at for nagging, over time it clicked to my head that I just had to do them with my mouth shut before i got my parents in a bad mood. Another disadvantage is that some kids will grow up to feeling like they are doing more than their parents. My younger sister hated doing chores and eventually spoke out to my parents about how she felt like they barley cleaned compared to her. Our parents had to explain to her that it is only chores and it shouldn't be a big deal to complete them.
Doing chores can teach a lot to people more than they think, exposing children at a young age is a lot more beneficial because they wont complain, they will enjoy it knowing they are helping, and they are learning something new rather than sticking to cartoon and electronics!
