Fewer than half of 14- to 15-year-olds now help out at home, according to a new survey from Parentkind.
And less than 25% of them have part-time jobs, this is down from 50% at the turn of the century!
The Guilt of the Overworked Parent...?
An increasing number of households are occupied by parents who both have full-time jobs, and they and their children both have busy lives, many modern parents are simply too exhausted to fight another battle over household chores.... and instilling daily chores in a child is a daily slog, every day, it's about policing the miniscule habits, this is impossible with busy work schedules.
For some it's just easier to do the tidying up yourself rather than having to drag your children away from their PS3s!
And then of course there is the rise of the well-rounded child... the keanos whose lives are crammed with homework and extra curricular activities, 30 mins a day spent on basic chores is 30 mins less developing those academic skills, and we are on a timer here!
It could also be due to the decline of cash... most teenagers today get their pocket money virtually, there's something of a disconnect between a physical household chore and virtual money somewhere.
And back to chores, there is the fact that doing it yourself is quicker and you get a better result than if it was done by yer kid!
Final Thoughts... does this cultural shift matter...?
Possibly training yer kids to do chores is now irrelevant, I mean by the time they grow up they will simply be living in virtual space anyway, which you can clean up simply by rebooting at the end of every day, so no worries!