Do you remember when you were a teenager? You like to spend more time with your friends, right? You are busy spreading your wings and testing the things that you can experience. Of course, you do not have time for household chores. You’ve probably argued with your parents about doing the dishes or cooking dinner for your siblings. But that was also a time in your life when you would’ve honed your being responsible. You should’ve taken advantage of learning how to fix things around the house and be responsible for yourself.
The teenage years are a very sensitive period in the life of everyone. You are adult enough to understand that every action has a consequence, but you are young enough not to understand the gravity of those consequences. Because of these conflicting feelings, teenagers are always argumentative. They don’t want to spend time at home with their families, often choosing to be with their peers who are going through the same things as them. They think their parents don’t understand them, forgetting that their mothers and fathers were once teens, too.
Such circumstances will always lead parents to ask themselves, “why bother?” They will learn either way, right? Wrong. There are many things in life that teens would have to learn from their parents, but one of the most important is to be responsible for themselves, their households, and others.
What Chores or Skills Do They Need to Learn?
At the very least, they should learn the basics—wash the clothes, fold the clothes, clean the house, wash the dishes, cook simple meals, and fix common problems in the house. What are the common problems? Learning how to do roof leak repair will do them good once they have their own homes. Knowing how to fix the plumbing is also important because this is a common problem around the house.
Survival Skills
You won’t always be around for your kids. You’re not going to live forever to wash and iron their clothes. Who is going to do these things for them when you are gone? That’s why it’s important to teach them as early as now to do things around the house. Teaching them basic domestic skills will empower them for the future—yes, when they do need to finally go to college and live in a dorm.
They have to eventually live separately when the time comes. They need to be independent of you, so begin teaching them life skills as early as possible. Being skillful and competent will also improve their self-reliance and confidence.
Employment
Employers want workers who are confident and reliable. How can your children become reliable when they constantly depend on you? How can they stand on their own feet when they keep calling you whenever they have to face a problem? Knowing household chores isn’t just about fixing your bed in the morning. It’s about being disciplined enough to do it even though you know someone else can do it for you, or it won’t be so bad not to do it, anyway.
Self-discipline and order are foundations of becoming a good employee. These are the things that your kids must learn at home and take with them to work. When they are responsible for themselves, they become responsible for their work, too. They meet deadlines, attend meetings, prepare for presentations, and keep up with everything in the office.
Community
Teens should take their place in the community. They should play their roles. But how can they do that if they don’t even have roles at home? How can they identify with the community if they do not learn who they are at home? It is from you that your kids will learn the value of contributing to the community. They will become responsible and helpful community members because they are the same back home.
If they can do their tasks at home, what will stop them from doing the same in their community? If they learn to rely on themselves, then they can also allow the community members to depend on them. Teens who know their way around the house become good role models for younger kids in the community. They are responsible not only for the tasks assigned to them at home but for others who may be looking up to them.
The relationship between parents and teenagers is always a tricky one because this is a time when they are trying to define who they are. But your defiance against teen angst will be a telling point in your kids’ lives in the future. You have to set your foot down. Teaching them basic domestic skills, among many others you will teach your kids throughout their lives, will help them until you cannot be there for them anymore.