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Comment by Bonnie Bessom on April 21, 2008 at 1:31pm

1. Are family chores divided up fairly in families today?
I think as both parents work there is some distribution of household chores. I think that parents tag team many responsibility depending on who is home at the time, especially when it comes to the children (being home or picking them up from school, taking them to extra curricular activities, and making dinner). As for the rest of the household chores I see that for the most part the chores are still the same, the women still do most of the shopping, cooking and cleaning.

2. How were household chores divided up in the family where you grew up?
When I was little my mother did not work and my father did. So it was pretty standard that my cooked and cleaned and my father went to work. As far as doing things with us children, my handled most of the appointments because they were usually during working hours. Bur my dad did take care of us on weekends and helped with the cooking. When my mother and father got a divorce and my father did not live with us anymore my mother had us kids help with most of the household chores.

3. Thinking about family responsibilities today, how would you like to see chores divided up between spouses, and children?
I do believe that there is a different mentality when it comes to the dealing with the children. Fathers are stepping up to the plate when it comes with taking care and being an active part of dealing with them. It would be nice to see the cleaning and shopping more divided. And I think the children should have their own chores. I think if we are going to change our way of thinking it is going to change more if we start with the kids not have gender specific chores and setting a better example for them.

4. Does making more money than a spouse free a spouse from chores?
I think is some ways making more money does free up one spouse more from chores. But it seems that the one who makes more money is not home as much as the other. Also although work is tiring and stressful for everyone, I also see if someone’s work is more strenuous then they other that make a difference. Realistically I still see that women still has more of an obligation to maintain the household chores such as cleaning; dusting, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms and doing laundry.

5. Are spouse’s who were raised homes where one spouse did most of the chores tend to carry over to how those spouse’s see chores in their homes today?
Yes, I do believe there is still the belief that the woman to be a good wife is supposed to “keep house.” And the man is supposed to maintain the cars, yard and heavy work.

Ask three family members, friends or co-workers whether they think family chores are divided fairly in families today?
Everyone that I surveyed feel the same. I talked to a few who their husbands work and they do not, and they do everything, which is fair for the most part. But even then their hours never end while the husbands do. The other who work also they feel that there is a certain amount of sharing responsibility is with the children, but they still do most of the household chores.

Comment by Tawnia on April 20, 2008 at 10:28pm

1-Are family chores divided fairly? In today's families I think that yes, the chores are becoming divided more fairly among spouses, but not among children. A lot of children are spoiled with getting to do whatever they want and not having any responsibilities. 2-My family chores? My brother and I always had a set list of chores that switched every week. We had several animals so cleaning cages was alternated. One week I would have the guinea pigs, the bird, and the cats and he would have the dogs and the rabbits. The inside chores would be split also. We each would be responisble for our own rooms. The kitchen/dining room would be alternated with the living room and bathroom. Now that my brother has moved out my dad and I take turns cleaning depending on who has less going on that particular day. I still clean most of the animal cages (though we don't have near as many). My mom mainly cooks and will rinse all the dishes used for dinner. She also takes care of all the bills and budgeting aspects. My parents go shopping together.
3-How would I like to see chores divided? I think that chores should be divided on account of sensitivity and work load. As children grow older they can move from only picking up their toys to having to help with things such as the dishes or vacuuming. The parents should be sensative to one another and realize that even though they may have made more money that day, the other spouse might have had a really hard day and that they should step in and do something they might not normally do like cook dinner. I don't think that one person should always have to do one particular chore.
4Does Making more money free a spouse from chores? Again, this goes back to be sensative to the other spouse. Just because one parent stayed home all day with the children doesn't mean that her/his day wasn't as hard as the other parent's. So no, making more money does not "free" a person from chores. Family responsibilities should not be seen as something that a job frees you from. 5-Do spouses carry traditional rolls on to their families? I do think that if a person grows up a certain way, that person is going to expect his/her own family to be that same way. It's not just families traditions, but cultural traditions also. In New Mexico, hispanic women are seen more as the housewives who aren't supposed to work outside the home. As the culture in the United States evolves, I think gender roles will become more equal and people will more readily adapt to change and realize that just because they grew up a certain way doesn't mean their family has to behave in the same manner.

2 continued with input from family/boyfriend.
My mom and dad agreed that chores are pretty even divided, depending on the family. There are still some families that stick to the traditional gender roles where the mom does everything. They also both agreed that roles are changing and starting to become a little more equal. My boyfriend said that between children, the chores are most often divided equally, but not between parents and children. Parents should have more responsibilities than the children. I agree with this. As children grow older they should learn more and have more responsibilities.

Comment by Alisha on April 20, 2008 at 9:44pm

1. Are family chores divided up fairly in families today? In my opinion, it kind of varies from family to family. With my parents, I think my dad does more of the housework. At first, when I got married, I was doing the majority of the work, since my ex-husband was raised by his grandparents who felt the wife does the work. I stopped doing the cooking and cleaning for 2 weeks, and he started helping me out. Although, in most, I believe that the females do a little bit more of the work.
2. How were household chores divided up in the family where you grew up? Being the youngest, I didn't really have many chores, except to keep my room cleaned. My dad did the majority of the cleaning, and my mom and my sister would do the cooking.
3. Thinking about family responsibilities today, how would you like to see chores divided up between spouses, and children? I think that the chores should be divided up equally. For the children, they need to be responsible for their age appropriate chores. For the adults, the cooking and cleaning should be done equally. Ex: If one does the cooking, the other should do the dishes, or, one does it one night, and the other the next. It gets stressful if both parents work, and only one maintains the house.
4. Does making more money than a spouse free a spouse from chores? I don't think that making more money should determine who takes care of the house. If one spouse works a lot of hours, then maybe, depending on the circumstances, the other should do a little more around the house.
5. Are spouse’s who were raised homes where one spouse did most of the chores tend to carry over to how those spouse’s see chores in their homes today? That I am not too certain of. In my opinion, I would think som since a lot of behavior is learned.

Comment by Rachel on April 20, 2008 at 10:37am

1. In my opinion, family chores are not divided fairly. I still believe mothers do the majority of the family chores. Many mothers are working full-time jobs, doing most (if not all) the housework, attending to the children’s childcare and other family needs.
2. As a young girl, my parents had the females do all the indoor housework, such as; cleaned house, cooked, washed clothes, grocery shopping, and attend to the younger kids. The males in my household did the “more labor intense type of chores”, house maintenance and outdoor cleaning. For example, repair appliances, clean and maintain the lawn, work on the vehicles, and gardening.
3. I think every household member should share the family chores. Everyone contributes to the disorder; therefore, everyone should help get things back in order.
4. Making more income than your spouse should not free you from chores. Regardless of how much money you make, you still contribute to the mess of the house and are responsible for the well-being of your family.
5. As children, we learn through observation. If our parents taught us that chores are not divided fairly then it is most likely we will share the same perspectives, for that reason, I believe house chores are carried over to how spouses see chores in their homes.

Comment by Vanessa Farmer on April 15, 2008 at 8:51pm

1. Are family chores divided up fairly in families today?
I think there may be a few lucky households that separate chores fairly. I also wonder about are the chores weighted differently. For example, is toilet plunging and litter box duty equal to laundry, dishes, and cooking? I think that I would have less of a gripe if chores were done without nagging or asking or if they were done right.
2. How were household chores divided up in the family where you grew up?
The chores were divided as inside work and outside work. Lawn care, car maintenance, trash duty were outside and laundry, cleaning, shopping were inside chores.
3. Thinking about family responsibilities today, how would you like to see chores divided up between spouses, and children?
I think chores should be defined and separated equally. I don’t think that cleaning ones room should be considered a chore but, more of an individual responsibility. Meaning I don’t think you should get “chore” credit for cleaning your room and picking up after yourself. I think it also depends on the family situation. If I did not work I would be fine in me taking most of the chores because I don’t work so I have the time for that. If both spouses work then I think it should be divided equally meaning I’ll cook and he does the dishes. Most of the time I just can’t wait for him to get around to doing his chores. The separation of chores is not what concerns me so much as the people needing to get them done in a timely manner like while we’re still young. 
4. Does making more money than a spouse free a spouse from chores?
I don’t think making more money allows a spouse to be off the hook you just have to ensure that the person making more money has equal amounts of time. For example, I had a regular 8-5 job, I was doing independent contracting, and I was fulltime in school. So, I expected my husband to really step in and help out not so much because of the money but, because I had an overly full schedule and really no time to do dishes, laundry, or pick up the house.

5. Are spouse’s who were raised homes where one spouse did most of the chores tend to carry over to how those spouse’s see chores in their homes today?
I believe it does carry over because if you were never expected to do chores it doesn’t register that hey, there’s dirty dishes in the sink I should do them. It is a very frustrating issue because my mother did a lot of the chores and I just don’t have the time or desire to follow in her foot steps. My husband’s mother also did everything for him because she did not work so that expectation is there to do what she did but, she didn’t work. It is also hard because people tend to do things differently. I am a very health conscience cooker. I avoid oil and butter whenever possible. My husband does not because his family always cooked with it. So, I don’t let him cook because of the fat content he creates.

It is a sad fact but it seems that men are supposed to help among my generation but whether they do or not is questionable. The men seem to have taken a stronger interest in the kids though helping with school and shuttling them around. In the older generation like my grandparents there is one chore that is my grandfathers and its dish duty. He doesn’t cook or clean but he does the dishes every day.