Kerens.Com - Raising Kids with Chores and Optional Jobs

A kid growing up on the farm learned at quite an early age how to perform work and assume responsibility. A boy ten years of age was accustomed to putting hay out for the cattle, hoeing weeds from the cotton fields, and even driving a tractor, at least for light tasks such as mowing, hauling trailers, and cutting stalks. Daughters quickly learned the house routines of washing, ironing, sewing, cooking, and looking after younger brothers and sisters.

Some of our work we referred to as chores. Chores included work that needed to be accomplished on a daily basis, or if not daily at least on a regular basis. Our chores included milking the cows, slopping the hogs, feeding the chickens, gathering eggs, and tending the garden. As for the garden, we had to hoe out the weeds and pick the big green horned worms off the tomato plants and the beetles off the potato plants.

We children on the Vernon farm all understood and accepted the need to take care of the chores. This kind of work was a part and parcel of everyday life, and the rationale for performing it was more than clear. If you did not gather the eggs, you would have no eggs for breakfast. If you did not milk the cows, then there was no milk for drinking and cooking. If you did not slop the hogs . . . well the point ought to be pretty clear by now so I will not belabor it!

However, we also had optional jobs. To understand this kind of work, you must understand the difference in how parents raised kids then and how that same job is done today. Parents in these olden days, these golden days of the 1940s and 1950s, watched children carefully to police their behavior, not just their behavior but their attitudes and even facial expressions. Children were held to a fairly strict though unspoken code of conduct. As an example, children were always expected to address adults outside the home with titles of respect. My father’s friend might be Marvin to Dad, but he was Mr. Seabolt to me! Our parents also took note of our tone of voice. In speaking to our parents, we could not raise our voice nor speak in any tone except that of quiet respect. There was no sense then as there is today that parents were their children’s friends. As a child, your friends were other children your own age!

Violators of the children’s unspoken code of conduct could be expected to be assigned optional jobs. This was work that could be considered semi-punitive in nature. This kind of work was not generally unimportant or unnecessary, but it was work that did not have the same urgency or need for regularity of performance as daily chores. A few examples may be instructive. One that comes to mind is cleaning out the chicken house—raking out the chicken droppings from beneath the roost and taking the droppings out to fertilize the garden. This was perhaps a one-hour job, and it provided ample time for the miscreant child to contemplate the behavioral violation that led to the assignment.

Another such job was digging out Johnson grass. For the uninitiated, Johnson grass is a bane to row crop farmers, and one must constantly fight to keep it from spreading in the fields. Johnson grass has deep roots, long white tubular roots called scions. To get rid of a patch of Johnson grass it is not enough to cut down the grass at the surface of the ground. Instead, you must use a grubbing hoe and dig out the entire root system. If you leave any roots, the Johnson grass will soon return as vigorous as ever. Digging out Johnson grass roots in the 105 degree weather of Central Texas in August is not a walk in the park. By the time you have dug out four or five such clumps, you will be hot, dirty, sweaty, and tired . . . and you will have had ample time to reflect upon the word or deed that caused you to get this particular assignment!

I remember one Kerens boy, who shall remain anonymous, who was observed to have stolen a can of Coke from a pop machine at Pete Parish’s service station (right across the street from Bruner’s). When Jargo Holloway, our local constable, reported this fact to the boy’s father, the parental reaction was strong and instantaneous. His father put the boy to digging out Johnson grass roots for the entire summer—no more trips to town just one long continuous job of digging out Johnson grass for the remaining two-month vacation period! Tough parenting? Severe? Perhaps, but it is reliably reported that this boy’s behavior was quickly reformed, and that he was never known to engage in theft again.

I have dug out my share of Johnson grass roots as well as persimmon tree roots, which is another whole story, and all I will say about digging our persimmon tree roots is that the job is almost as much fun as digging out Johnson grass. Based on my personal experience, I will tell you that these optional chores can really help mend behavior and even build character. You are working and thinking at the same time. Sweat rolls down your face and into your eyes. You grow tired, and your muscles ache. At first you are angry and resentful, but you gradually begin to realize that it was that sort of attitude that got you into the situation in the first place! As you work, you begin to adjust your attitude to one that is in greater congruity with that which the parent expects. You start thinking carefully how to behave and how to express yourself in such manner as to avoid any unnecessary repetition of this sort of labor assignment.

That is how it was with chores and optional jobs in our family. Chores and optional jobs were our family’s way of life. I suppose that most of us of a certain age still recall and appreciate the way it was. I am certain we remember our parents with awe and respect for their efforts to instill values and a viable work ethic in each of us. Our parents had it right.

Dr. Ivan R. Vernon
ivernon-ohio@att.net


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