The most economically productive people in a household are usually the two parents. But most of the time, in Australia, the two parents will do most of the chores in the household. The rationale is that their kids could not do them well. Also, the parents want their kids to have more time to focus on their studies.
In Malaysia, most middle class families would have a maid to do most of the work. Whatever work not done by the maid will be done by their parents. The rationale is also to let their kids focus more time on their studies. Understandably, students in Malaysia have more homework than their Australian counterparts.
But whatever rationale that results in kids not having to do their house chores is a bad rationale. Broadly speaking, I think kids’ duties can be divided into three – studies, play and house chores. That’s because they are part of the household – it is that simple and straight forward.
Everyone at home should be responsible for their own things. If not, everyone should be doing a certain task for everyone. For example, someone would do the cooking and food preparation, someone would do the dish-washing and cleaning up, someone would take care of the backyard, clean the gutter, and wash the cars, do the laundry…
Husbands should also help wives and vice versa. Any spouse who does not help out the other is not only unfair to his or her partner, but also set a VERY bad example for the kids!
The most productive person who contributes most to the family deserves better than what they are getting now. If you happen to be in this kind of situation, it is time to put a stop to it. It is only fair to yourself (if you are at the receiving end) or to your partner, your parent, or your kid (depending of who does most or even all of the house work of course).
A fairer distribution of work is only going to bring everyone good. This is especially true for the kids. The older they grow, the more they need to be independent. Time management is one of the most important keys to success in their studies and career. No use giving them all the time they need to study and zero time for them to practise their living and survival skills.
Actually they need not only a certain amount of time to do house chores, but also a certain amount of time to play. Beside house chores, play is also another important activity that can help our kids develop into more well-balanced adolescents and responsible adults.
As a team, the family will also be able to do better financially. Why? Because the parents can now have more time to rest and thereby better able to focus their energy on their careers so that they would become more rewarding financially and spiritually.
If you think your kids will spend ALL of their time studying when you do all the house chores for them, please think again. In other words, making them do house chores will help reduce the amount of time they waste.
This article is contributed by Ken the “Good Meh???” guy 
