Part Two

Is it just me or are children not being taught life skills at home?

When I was a child I was given certain responsibilities and I was expected to see that they were carried out.

I brought our children up with the same ethics,  home was for all the family to enjoy and also to look after.  This was not just our family, all kids seem to have similar conditions.

According to age, our children were given chores and responsibilities.  Younger kids were supposed to make their bed, help set and clear the table, feed the pets and generally keep the place tidy.

When they got older, they loaded and emptied the dishwasher, put away groceries, took the dog for walks and generally helped out.  Lawn mowing was the chore of the older ones, lots of complaints but still got done.

Was I such a cruel mother?  I really don’t think so as our girls all grew up with a sense of responsibility, however, not all of them seem to be passing this on to their own children.  All my daughters work full time but a couple of them seem reluctant to get their children to help around the house.  Dishes are left for mom, beds just never get made and mom is the only one who knows how to use the oven or the washing machine.

These are older teenagers, not preschoolers.  I find it hard to keep quiet but  I know it is not my place to interfere, however it is hard to sit and watch my girls run themselves into the ground doing every small task for their children.

This sort of thing is obviously happening in many homes, it is apparent from the attitude of some of the young employees around town.  Example, a busy downtown restaurant with the owner working at double speed.  Her employee is a pretty young thing with a dishcloth, dabbing at an odd table, here and there.  Nearby are three tables, recently vacated, full of dirty dishes and crumpled napkins.

The sweet young thing does not notice the dirty tables but is busy dabbing her washcloth at various parts if the restaurant.  The owner points out that tables need clearing and the young girl jumps into action.  Instead of getting a tray, she makes numerous trips to the kitchen with  the dishes.  She then cleans the table  and resets it, this time using a tray. The table looks great but the six chairs are pulled out from the table, sprawled every which way, and it looks messy, this goes unnoticed and so does the surrounding tables, which are still cluttered with dirty dishes.

Example two, a pretty young lady at the check out of a local super market.  I unload my cart in the order I would like things placed in my bags.  First the heavy melons and veggies, next the medium weight items, yogurt, cheeses etc, lastly loaves of fresh bread and buns.

I have brought three heavy duty shopping bags and the girl takes the largest one, reaches across the heavy items and grabs the bread, which she proceeds to stuff into the bottom of the bag.  I, very tactfully, suggest she put in the heavier items, so she agrees and hauls the bread out and slings it on the counter.  However, instead of melons, the tomatoes and grapes go in to the bag.  I take the stuff out myself and suggest she leave the delicate fruit for right on top.  The waiting melons are yet again ignored and the cheese and yogurt goes in the bag.

My patience is beginning to wear thin, so I allow the medium weights stuff to go in the bag, then tell the girl to put the fruits on top.  She obviously thinks I am a bit strange, but goes along with my request.   The bag now weighs about twenty pounds and I can hardly lift it, while I am struggling to lift it into the cart, the bread is stuffed into the next bag and other stuff piled on top of it.  I hurriedly remove the bread, which now looks like it was sat on.  The girl now thinks I have a neurotic attraction to my bread, and does the eyeball roll which is specially kept for senile seniors.

I solve the problem by putting the bread directly into my cart and plan to try and pull it back into shape, when I get home.  I pay for my purchases and am just in time to prevent a bag boy from putting the remaining bag on top of the much handled bread.  I feel their eyes on my as I leave the check out, they both obviously think I am deranged.

Young or not so young, new employees need to be fully trained, before being let loose on the unsuspecting public, but surely these sort of skills should be taught at home.  But…..that’s probably just my opinion.