It's amazing how much work has to be done every day just to maintain a place to 1ive in. The dishes have to be washed, dried and put away. Clothes not only need to be washed, dried, and put away, but ironed as well! The floors need to be swept, the furniture dusted. There's garbage that has to be taken out. Toilets and bathroom tiles need to be cleaned. And, then, we need to shop for groceries and make sure will the bills are paid. Periodically, we need to replace the wallpaper or repaint the rooms. Sometimes, we have to repair the furnace or the air conditioner or some appliance. The worn never ends!
What chore do you hate the most?
1. Doing the dishes
2. Cooking
3. Washing clothes
4. Ironing
5. Taking out the garbage
6. Cleaning the bathroom
7. Shopping for groceries
8. Cleaning the floor
9. Washing the car
Sample answers
(A) I hate doing the dishes the most. It always needs to be done at the worst possible time, right after I have eaten a nice, filling meal, when all I really want to do is relax and let some of the food digest in peace. But, no! Instead of watching TV or reading a magazine for a half hour, I have to collect all the dishes, utensils, pots, and pans, take them to the sink, turn on the hot water, and scrub, scrub, scrub until they are all clean. By then, the television and magazine have lost their appeal, and it's time to start getting the kids ready for bed.
(B) There's no chore like cleaning the floor. It is, quite literally, back-breaking labor to crawl around on my hands and knees with a rag and scrub the floor down to a bright polish. The worst thing is, it seems like as soon as I finish, it needs to be done all over again! I hate it!
Speak your mind
1. Who does the cooking in your family?
2. Who does the grocery shopping at your home? es the dishes in your house?
4. What chores do the kids in your family help with?
5. What is the chore that men hate to do the most? Why, do you think?
6. What is the chore women hate the most? Why?
7. Women are said to be more adept at doing household chores. Do you agree? Why or why not.'
Speak with your mind helpers
1. Who does the cooking in your family?
(A)
Mom, of course. I don't think Dad knows the difference between a marshmallow and a microwave! But that's fine; whenever Mom refuses to cook, Dad takes us all out to eat at a nice neighborhood restaurant, or else we just order out. This way, the whole family gets to have some variety in our diet.
(B)
Well, my father is clearly the best cook in the family, but he only exhibits this skill on special occasions like Mom's birthday or something like that. Once in awhile, out of the blue, he will surprise us by whipping up a wonderful meal. I think he enjoys cooking more than anything else, and he does it with great zest. But, unfortunately, he just isn't home enough to do this on a regular basis.
2. Who does the grocery shopping at your home?
(A)
My roommates and I take turns. Once a week, we all make up a list of what we need, or what we want to eat, and then one of us has the tasl‹ of filling the orders. We also take turns doing the cooking and cleaning up, and we divide the costs evenly. The only exception is if one of us insists on adding something really expensive to the list — none of the rest of us wants to subsidize a gourmand's appetite.
(B)
My wife used to do the shopping by herself. But every week, she'd either spend too much by not effectively comparing prices, or she'd buy something because it was on sale, even though we never got around to eating it. She got tired of my complaining about her poor shopping habits, so now we go together once a week. Actually, it works out very well, because this way we spend more time together than we used to, and it's kind of fun looking at all the colorful fruits and smelling the fresh vegetables.
3. Who does the dishes in your house?
(A)
I have been the family dishwasher for as long as I can remember. I knew how to clean a dish even before I could read; sometimes I think it was even before I could walk! But I‘m not complaining — I've done it for so long that it seems like second nature to me. The only bad part is that if I'm eating at someone else's place I have an irresistible urge to do the dishes there, too!
(B)
This seems like the least popular task we encounter. Sometimes the dishes pi/e up for days at a time, until we can't cook or eat anymore until they are washed, since we don't have any left to cook with or eat from. Maybe we should just have a lottery or something, or set up a definite schedule.
4. What chores do the kids in your family help with?
(A)
My parents believe that children should start helping with household chores from when they are very young. They scarf out doing simple things like clearing the table, then when they are a little older they start washing and drying the dishes. Eventually, by the time they are teenagers, they take turns doing everything. Gender doesn‘t matter, none of my brothers or sisters will ever graduate from our family into a home of their own without knowing intimately all the secrets of cooking and housecleaning.
(B)
None of the kids in my house do anything. Our family philosophy is that children are only young once, and they should make the most o( it. Sometimes I worry that this will make me unprepared for having a home of my own, but then I think about it and realize that I‘m very happy to avoid these chores as long as I can. I don't think any of them are complicated enough to require much training, so I'll wait until I get married or move out on my own. Or, maybe I’ll just hire a maid...
5. What is the chore that men hate to do the most? Why, do you think?
(A)
I’m convinced that cleaning the floor is the most-hated chore for men. Maybe because the male ego does not appreciate being on one's hands and knees, like a slave. Men want to think they are Masters of the Universe, and this sort of hard labor is beneath them.
(B)
Taking out the garbage should be easy, right? It doesn‘t take long and can be accomplished at the same time one is leaving the house to go to work. But, somehow, no matter how many times I remind my husband to do this simple tasI‹, he always manages to "forget." I always end up doing it myself. What makes me especially angry, though, is the fact that he agreed to do this in exchange for not having to do anything else around the house.
6. What is the chore women hate the most? Why?
(A)
Washing the clothes tops the list. It is mindless labor. Everything else requires some sort of mental engagement to do properly, but washing is just a routine. I put it off as long as possible, but it seems that I end up doing it several times a week anyway.
(B)
Wives hate having to do everything for their husbands, but they love doing it things for their children. I guess the difference is that husbands are old enough to do some of these things for themselves, but their kids "never grow up." I know that my mother does everything to make my dad look good, but she complains about it incessantly, and I never hear her complain about working on my behalf.
7. Women are said to be more adept at doing household chores. Do you agree? Why or why not?
F: There might have been a time when women had nothing else to do except take care of the home. It made a certain amount of sense that if the husband was away from home earning money for the family, then the wife should make sure everything at home was taken care of.
M: Do I sense that you don't think that is the case any more?
F: It might be, for some families. If the wife does not have a job, then she should be expected to work at home. That seems fair.
M: But?
F: But, that isn't the case for most families anymore. A lot of women work outside the home, and many have full-time jobs. They put in just as much time at work as their husbands do, but still they are expected to take care of the house too. Most husbands don't help at all, or they only help a tiny bit.
M: Well, why don't women go on strike, then? “Don't iron while the strike is hot!” Eventually, men will be forced to help out, since they want to live in a clean house and wear nice clothes, too.
F: I don't know about most men, but I don't think my husband cares much one way or another if the house is messy. He just seems oblivious to the whole situation. Eventually, I just can't take it anymore and clean up the mess by myself.
M: Do you suppose it's genetic?
F: What? Do I think there's a house cleaning gene that women have and men don't? Of course not! Men are just lazy slobs, that's all!
M: I take exception to that! I don't think I'm lazy at all, and I'm certainly not a slob. I always take great care to look good and to live in a neat, clean environment.
F: Then what's the difference between you and the rest of the Male Race?
M: I guess it was the way I was raised. I was always expected to help with the household chores, so when I got married I was used to it. Sure, when I get home I'm tired and want to relax, but I how my wife feels the same way. So I always try to do about half the housework, and we take turns doing the things we both hate.
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