# What chore did you hate the most when you were a child ?



## hollydolly (Nov 12, 2021)

We had lots of chores to do as kids... we had all the housework too do as well as working outside the home at jobs from age 12 and then school as well.

I grew up in and out of foster homes as well as living with my parents, and everywhere I lived there was chores to be done by the kids.. 

My favourite would probably be when  every few months  my mother would polish the lino on her hands and knees with lavender polish then tie rags to our feet and we'd skate around the livingroom and very long hallway to buff up the floor till it shone... ( ironically I detest the smell of lavender now)

My most hated chore was washing dishes...not because washing dishes is so terrible but I've always hated routine even from being tiny , and it was my job to wash them every single night ..for 6 people, that's a lot of dishes for a little kid ..  I did this from the age of 7 years old until I left home with occasional help from one of my younger siblings and  gaps in between for the periods I was in foster homes..( although there was different chores there ) ... but anyway.. dishes is my answer.. what was your most hated chore as a child ?


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## HoneyNut (Nov 12, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> My most hated chore was washing dishes


Me too, I finally got out of the washing dishes chore by losing my temper and turning the faucet sprayer on my siblings.  After that I was in charge of doing all the laundry instead, which was much preferable to me.
I know what my mom's most hated chore was as a kid because she was still complaining about it in her 80s, ha ha.  She had to butcher their chickens.  And I had a coworker decades ago that complained that when he was a kid he had to kill the pigs.


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## Pinky (Nov 12, 2021)

Like Holly, I liked polishing the newly waxed floor with rags tied to my feet. I also hated doing dishes. Often, I would sneak out of the house undetected, so my older sister had to do them all. It wasn't fair, of course .. but I was never punished for it. We had to dust & polish our own bedroom and the wooden bannisters on the main floor of our rooming house.


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## katlupe (Nov 12, 2021)

I still hate it to this day........washing dishes! Doing it right now, in fact.


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## Aunt Bea (Nov 12, 2021)

The worst single chore for me was cleaning the carpet and rubber mats in my parents car with an old whisk broom.


We learned never to complain about being bored for fear that our parents would find us a little job to do.


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## Pepper (Nov 12, 2021)

My sister and I had no chores.


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## bingo (Nov 12, 2021)

pitching  hay....carry  5 gal buckets of water to chicken  lot...milk cow


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## hollydolly (Nov 12, 2021)

katlupe said:


> I still hate it to this day........washing dishes! Doing it right now, in fact.


Me too..I detest it..... I use as many disposable plates as I can get away with using  every day..lol


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## GeorgiaXplant (Nov 12, 2021)

Dusting. I still hate dusting, and The Hovel looks like it. I dusted...um...a while back. Gonna do it again soon, maybe even before Christmas. JFTR, I do use a long-handled duster to dust where the walls meet the ceiling, to keep the ceiling fan blades clean, and to dust the baseboards so I'm not a totally hopeless case.

Keep in mind that I used to be a cleaning fairy. I didn't like dusting other people's houses, either, but I did it  because clients paid me to do it. I don't get paid to dust my own place.


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## AnnieA (Nov 12, 2021)

Baby-sitting my off-the-charts hyperactive little brother.


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## Alligatorob (Nov 12, 2021)

Picking up and burying dog droppings.


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## jujube (Nov 12, 2021)

Working in the garden....weeding and picking tomatoes, beans and corn.  I'd get all hot and everything made me itch.


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## RadishRose (Nov 12, 2021)

Dishes!


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## Ruth n Jersey (Nov 12, 2021)

I really had no chores to speak of. I did dry the dishes after dinner and as a teen I cleaned my own room. 
I loved to rake leaves and shovel snow but I wasn't asked to do it. 
 Working in the garden and helping my dad with yard work was another favorite. Anything to be with him gave me great pleasure. I loved him so much.


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## palides2021 (Nov 12, 2021)

I  don't recall not liking any chores I did. I just did them. The only thing that stands out is when we were young and would go into the meadows and fields with my mom in the spring time to dig the dandelion weeds to boil later (ate with olive oil and lemon). This was a Greek tradition. Whatever we didn't eat got frozen. I dreaded it because of the big juicy worms that would pop out unexpectedly from the ground, and I'd jump back feeling frightened.  Even now, when I'm gardening, I recoil when I see worms.


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## Remy (Nov 12, 2021)

Washing floors. My mother insisted they be done on hands and knees. If that was the only way to do them, I'd never clean my floors again because I refuse to do so. I'll use a mop. 

Not huge on dusting either and I'm still waiting for the genius to invent the silent vacuum that doesn't scare the cats.


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## officerripley (Nov 12, 2021)

Pretending to prefer living with my dad and the various stepmothers.


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## Harry Le Hermit (Nov 12, 2021)

I grew up on a farm, so it is hard to choose just one chore. Guess what I haven't done since leaving home?


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## oldpop (Nov 12, 2021)

Yard work.


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## Feelslikefar (Nov 12, 2021)

We had a number of big Pecan trees on our property in Florida and when it was time for them to fall, my  job was to pick them up and put them in paper sacks.

My mom would put them out with a sign that said, " Pecans  $1.00  ".

I did the work, I'd stand by the road, take the money, but the money was handed over to Mom.
Wasn't like we needed the money from the sale.   
Just never understood her thinking.

It's like she didn't trust me or something...


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## Gary O' (Nov 12, 2021)

What chore did you hate the most when you were a child?​
Pretty much any
Had lots with which to hate




hollydolly said:


> dishes is my answer.. what was your most hated chore as a child ?


Yeah, that's right up there



Feelslikefar said:


> We had a number of big Pecan trees on our property in Florida and when it was time for them to fall, my job was to pick them up and put them in paper sacks.


We had walnut trees
The neighbor plowed his walnut orchard, then laid out tarps
Not us
I fished out ours, all gooey with rotting skins, outa the weeds
Then pulled all the skins off
Then racked 'em on framed screens to lay in the sun
Money, for me?....You gotta be kiddin'

Never so happy to have the Columbus Day storm blow thru and wipe out half our orchard 

Hoeing acres of strawberries is right up there too


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## Bretrick (Nov 12, 2021)

The only chore I had was to chop the wood for the fire.
Everything else was done by my Grandmother.
She worked so hard and I do not think us 5 children appreciated her.


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## Sassycakes (Nov 12, 2021)

Me and my sister only had a few chores. We had to wash the dishes. We would argue every night about who would wash and who would dry and put them away. Since she was taller than me I had to wash. Then my Dad bought a dishwasher. We lived in the city so we also had to scrub the front steps. My sister told my mother I would do a better job than her, so my Mom believed her, and I did the steps. Then when I was 7yrs old my brother got out of the army and he moved in with us with his wife and baby then I got the Name Auntie Barbara will do it. Meaning I would take care of the baby.


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## Pecos (Nov 12, 2021)

I hated working on rental houses, cleaning up some very nasty greasy stoves, and repainting. I will never even consider messing with rentals and neither would my brothers.


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## Fyrefox (Nov 13, 2021)

Pulling weeds for my father.  As with Pokémon, he seemed to have to get them all!  Beyond chores were _expectations, _such as being expected to listen to my mother saw on her violin whenever she was struck by the muse…but that was more in the realm of torture or child abuse…


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## Pepper (Nov 13, 2021)

I gave myself a chore.  I loved ironing my father's pocket handkerchiefs, then I graduated to his shirts. Because I loved him so much, that's why, and it was my pleasure to see him wear what I ironed.  Also, when it was raining, I would meet him at our subway stop with an umbrella.  I would always hear his cigarette cough before I saw him come down the stairs.


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## fuzzybuddy (Nov 13, 2021)

My mom had a clothes dryer, but clothes had to smell fresh. So she hung them on the clothes line. My job was to take them down. The problem was in winter. My mom would hang wet clothes on the line. I was supposed to take them off, and throw them in the dryer. First, it's below freezing, so the wet clothes stuck to the clothes line. You had to fight to get them off. Next, I had to throw frozen clothes in the dryer. You had to fight to get the frozen clothes through the dryer door. Jeans were the worst. You almost had to 'break" them to get them in the dryer. I'm out there cold and wrestling frozen clothes, and they don't smell any fresher to me.


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## timoc (Nov 13, 2021)

What chore did you hate the most when you were a child ?​
*Well*, I really hated it when it was my turn to clean out the dinosaur sheds.  
​


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## hollydolly (Nov 13, 2021)

fuzzybuddy said:


> My mom had a clothes dryer, but clothes had to smell fresh. So she hung them on the clothes line. My job was to take them down. The problem was in winter. My mom would hang wet clothes on the line. I was supposed to take them off, and throw them in the dryer. First, it's below freezing, so the wet clothes stuck to the clothes line. You had to fight to get them off. Next, I had to throw frozen clothes in the dryer. You had to fight to get the frozen clothes through the dryer door. Jeans were the worst. You almost had to 'break" them to get them in the dryer. I'm out there cold and wrestling frozen clothes, and they don't smell any fresher to me.


Oh yes that was a job we had to do every winter as well. Frozen clothes in off the line... we didn't have a dryer I'm sure they weren't even a thing in houses in Scotland when I was a kid.. so we'd hang these frozen shirts, and school uniforms  on the kitchen pulley to dry while my mother lit the cooker to create some heat. (we didn't have central heating or radiators)... the Condensation in the kitchen was horrendous


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## Tom 86 (Nov 13, 2021)

Like Harry.  Grew up on a farm.   Milked cows, pitched hay & poo.  Fed chickens & rabbits, also sloped the hogs.  Fed 2 large poneys that Dad used to work the ground in our huge garden. A lot more but it would make a book here.


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## WheatenLover (Nov 13, 2021)

I hated having to make my bed when I got up. Yes, it makes the room look better. No one sees it. It's not like my mom had a parade of guests touring my bedroom, which was otherwise neat as a pin. When I was 16, I had to do my laundry and iron my clothes. I am very proud of the fact that when the boys were in Scouts, and I had to iron their uniforms and patches, they did not know what an iron was. I had to hide the iron since, from time to time, they would melt Barbie faces using light bulbs. I knew they would think of a good use for a hot iron, so I deprived them of that ability.

I hated having to tidy my lmessy ittle brother's room, which I had to do until I mentioned to my mom that he could do it himself.

When I think back on it, our house was always clean, tidy, and organized.  My siblings and I did not do many chores. My sister and I were not allowed to do any yard work. When we lived on bases, the prisoners did it. When my dad got out of the service, he did it. He had a firm belief that girls should not do yard work. That meant I was dying to mow the lawn. He let me mow one strip when I was in my early 20s, just so I could see what it was like. I had to beg him.


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## chic (Nov 13, 2021)

Dusting! I always had another family member involved with the dishes but dusting was something I was expected to do alone.


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## PamfromTx (Nov 13, 2021)

My parent's bedroom had carpet and I was expected to sweep it, yes, sweep.  They did not own a vacuum cleaner.  I hated that chore so much and often think how difficult it was for a young child.  My father was very strict and expected us to do chores after school and on weekends. 

That is why I hate carpet, perhaps?!? 

@hollydolly , I am so sorry for all that you had to endure as a child.


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## fuzzybuddy (Nov 13, 2021)

Never mind as a child, what chore did you hate the most? Defrosting the fridge freezer section. It was those small square freezers  at the top of the  old fridges-way before "Frost Free". They always had two inches of "frost" inside and out.


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## Jules (Nov 13, 2021)

Every Saturday morning my mother, stepfather & I cleaned the house.  Now I hate doing something as a routine.


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## Butterfly (Nov 14, 2021)

Ironing!!!


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## IrisSenior (Nov 14, 2021)

Laundry for 9 people - a wringer washer and no dryer. Clothesline in back yard for the summer and in the winter clothesline in the basement. Sometimes I go so behind that my dad took me to the laundromat. Today, I don't mind doing laundry and I still hang my clothes outside in the summer.


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## feywon (Nov 14, 2021)

palides2021 said:


> I  don't recall not liking any chores I did. I just did them. The only thing that stands out is when we were young and would go into the meadows and fields with my mom in the spring time to dig the dandelion weeds to boil later (ate with olive oil and lemon). This was a Greek tradition. Whatever we didn't eat got frozen. I dreaded it because of the big juicy worms that would pop out unexpectedly from the ground, and I'd jump back feeling frightened.  Even now, when I'm gardening, I recoil when I see worms.


 i was  much the same about chores--as one the 'youngest' and a real 'me,too' kid. i was happy to do chores because my older sisters did them, tho they didn't always do them without complaint. And some things i actually enjoyed.--Don't freak out @palides2021  but digging up worms for bait for fishing was one chore i kind of enjoyed;  Or picking oranges from our  orange tree: Securing the bow line of the boat when we pulled into dock.


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## feywon (Nov 14, 2021)

IrisSenior said:


> Laundry for 9 people - a wringer washer and no dryer. Clothesline in back yard for the summer and in the winter clothesline in the basement. Sometimes I go so behind that my dad took me to the laundromat. Today, I don't mind doing laundry and I still hang my clothes outside in the summer.


i only had to help Mom with that, once we had a washer (i was 6-7)  i had to stand on a wooden box to reach but i would feed stuff into the wringer  and catch on other side make sure it went the basket or fed it thru a second time if seemed to wet.


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## feywon (Nov 14, 2021)

I don't remember being  put out by any 'chore' usually felt good my folks trusted me to do something that *needed* doing.

One thing that always felt like an awful 'chore' to me was having to 'dress up' proper for church and school--always in dresses and worst of all shoes.  Especially because when i had a health checkup and got polio vax before starting first grade a doc told my Mom i was almost flat-footed and that wearing 'saddle shoes' (Oxfords) would correct it.  Wore them every school day till about 11, My arch never got any higher, course they were the last thing on before i left for school and the first thing off when i got home.


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## FastTrax (Nov 14, 2021)

Being the youngest of four I didn't have to do anything until I was a senior in high School. I was so damn lazy I hated to actually breathe on my own. Since I got married (TWICE) I still had zero chores for the next fifty years because I was working a gazillion hours for PC/CR and AMTRAK. Now that Stinky and Kirin are afoot I clean the entire house and Stinky and my cars once a week and the kitchen and both bathrooms every night before bedtime. Stinky pretty much handles the bills and runs the kitchen and Kirin plays. Kids got the life.


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## Lawrence (Nov 14, 2021)

The chore I disliked the most was picking the hemp weeds around our place and laying them down by the burn barrel.Then when they dried out somewhat we would burn them with the trash. The hemp was sticky and gooey to me and smelled bad. Dad would say that he did not want the cows to eat them but he did not tell us they were marijuana, we found that out later on. The people from town would come out to are place and pick the hemp and put it in the trunk of their cars. We did not want the people on our property so when dad was gone I had to tell the people to leave and get off our property. So every week or so I had to go around and pick them and they were hard to pull out and cut.


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## Gaer (Nov 14, 2021)

Well, I did a lot of chores but don't remember hating them.  
kinda, "Whistle as you work"


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## Feelslikefar (Nov 14, 2021)

Guess the other question is, did you make your children perform task they might think later in life 'They Hated'?

Admit I did.

Every Saturday morning, after my coffee, I'd wake up my oldest son to go out and sweep the front entrance to our house
in England.
Learned it was a village thing, seemed people up and down the road took care of this on Saturday mornings.

He hated it, but I thought like my parents, it was just something kids were suppose to learn.

Fast forward almost 20 years later and I'm watching him on Saturday morning sweeping and cleaning up the entry to his house
next to ours.

'What Doesn't Kill You, Makes You Strong...'


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## feywon (Nov 14, 2021)

Feelslikefar said:


> Guess the other question is, did you make your children perform task they might think later in life 'They Hated'?



They never expressed it, even during their horrible first year as teens, when my boys fought with each other and me quite often (my boys are twins so both 13 at once) and they were not as open with me as they were before and after that terrible year.  

Most  of the things i asked of them, the few rules i had were based on a principle of 'the more responsibility you take for yourself and your stuff the more autonomy and control you get over your life.' Put dirty clothes in laundry basket, dirty dishes sink.   In their teens the volunteered to do things like take out trash, mow grass, bring groceries in spend time with their sister.

You don't have to eat what i make but you have to have healthy food before you can have snacks.  If you leave toys in living room when you go to bed they'll go in 'disappear box' : 1 day first offense, 3 days for the second, i donate them to charity the 3rd time. Never even had  a 2nd time. First time they realized i meant what i said same as i dealt with whining and tantrums.  Daughter, 8 yrs younger had same rules, learned even quicker didn't have to test me over a lot of things but reasoned out if i meant what i said about one thing it was likely i meant it all the time.


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## Shero (Nov 14, 2021)

I never had set chores, yes, a spoilt brat. My Grandmama would say to me, 'would you like to do this or that with me, and because I worshipped the ground she stood on and wanted to be with her, I would say yes. In that way I learnt a lot because nothing was forced.


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## funsearcher! (Nov 14, 2021)

Cleaning the milk separator. We milked cows. Always was a ring of soured milk/cream on it, and all the ss rings to be cleaned.


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