Helping hands: Four in five teens positive on housework

IT may come as a surprise to many parents but Irish teenagers have been found to have a positive attitude to helping out with housework.

The image of Harry Enfield’s teenage character Kevin screaming “That is so unfair” may spring to mind when most parents think about asking for a hand with the dishes or a spot of weekend vacuuming.

But a study of almost 450 Dublin and Belfast students shows that 80% of teenagers do housework to help their parents or as preparation for the future, rather than begrudgingly or just for pocket money.

Girls are more likely than young males to do jobs at home to instil responsibility in themselves or as adult life preparation. But more of the boys with a positive attitude to housework are inspired by the need to help their parents or a duty of fairness.

Madeleine Leonard, professor of sociology at Queens University Belfast, surveyed the 14 and 15-year-olds at 11 schools.

They were asked whether children should participate in housework and to justify their opinions, with just under a third – and 40% of boys – referring to notions of fairness and helping others.

“An awful lot of work has to be done and if everyone helps even for one hour a day, it is surprising how much work we can get through,” one boy replied.

The research found this desire to help was more prevalent among children whose parents were both working.

One girl wrote: “If both parents work, they would be too tired to do it every day.”

Other students referred to the need to do something in return for their upbringing at home.

“Teenagers should help because they are not paying for anything, like food or electricity,” one boy wrote.

More than two-thirds of the surveyed group said they clean floors at least once a week and more than 80% regularly set the table for meals or do the washing up.

But girls were more likely to do jobs such as cleaning floors, and just over a third of female teens wash their own clothes, compared with less than one-in-five boys.

A similar proportion of males ironed their own clothes, but half of the surveyed girls did so.

Prof Leonard says it is not surprising that preparation for the future features prominently in children’s accounts of why they should be involved in housework.

It was the reason given by almost a third of girls and one-in-five boys, although most of these girls focused on independent living rather than married or family life.

“Domestic chores were regarded as an inevitable aspect of adult life and children stated that when they eventually lived on their own, they would need to know how to look after themselves,” she wrote in a research article for the latest edition of the Irish Journal of Sociology.

The altered traditional division of household work was recognised by both sexes, with one boy summing it up well: “Because in later life, women will be out working too, unlike before, and our wives will not have the time to do all the housework so we should get used to it now.”

Almost one-in-four teenagers cited notions of responsibility as a reason for helping out at home, with many recognising that they had contributed to the mess that needed cleaning.

The responses of those referring to fairness as a reason to do housework indicated that such work was viewed as a gesture associated with helping out, rather than something that required payment.

Only two girls and 12 boys in the study suggested pocket money as the most important reason for doing jobs in the home.

“The responses suggest that children feel that household chores are a way of paying parents back for looking after them, bringing them up and providing for their everyday needs,” Prof Leonard wrote.

There were, however, those teens who only did the housework because they were made to or asked to by their parents.

One boy gave a detailed explanation, saying that he didn’t mind some jobs like making the bed or keeping his room tidy without being asked, but there were limits on his volunteerism.

“Other basic jobs such as laying and clearing the table should also be done but people of my age should not be expected to do washing etc as much time should be devoted to studying,” he wrote.

But a few dozen of the students surveyed were of the view that children should not even be expected to help out at home.

In their view, wrote Prof Leonard, childhood is a period to be enjoyed and it should not be interrupted with household responsibilities.

“No, we are not adults and therefore should not be made to do adult work but certain things should be done for oneself,” was one teenage girl’s response.