Why Aren’t Kids Doing Chores Anymore?

It's about a changing culture

I lost my job at the local skateboard shop during my sophomore year of college. Unemployed, I left the shop, walked across the street to Chauncey Hill (strip) Mall, and went store-to-store, applying to one job after another. I got a job halfway down the strip that same day, at Fazoli’s Real Italian Real Fast. My job was to dispense free breadsticks to diners when I wasn’t working the register. It never occurred to me to just ask my parents for money for extras. They were paying for tuition and housing from the college savings account they opened when I was born. Getting a job was just something you did.

That sort of work experience is on the decline. Teen labor force participation fell from a 1978 high of 58% to an all-time low of 33% in 2014, before sneaking up to 38% in 2024 (according to Federal Reserve and BLS data–though some data put all these numbers about 10% higher). There are fewer teenagers staffing movie theaters, burger restaurants, and swimming pools. Where are they? Some can’t find jobs, but a growing number are inside, preparing for college. The number of teenagers enrolled in summer educational activities has ballooned.

Little kids are doing fewer household chores, too, according to several studies. One study sent researchers into houses, where they observed that only 3% of kids’ daily activities were housework, compared with 27% for mothers and 15% for fathers. Survey results about the frequency of chores vary wildly. I suspect this is because parents have a hard time even explaining what they mean by the words “kids” and “do” and “chores.” Researchers observed parents begging, threatening, and negotiating, then ultimately doing the work they wanted the kids to do. In Fast-Forward Family, Wendy Kline and Marjorie Goodman observed that middle-class families in industrialized countries had a tough time getting kids to do chores, noting that “one of the biggest obstacles to getting children to help regularly with household tasks was lack of mutually agreed upon routines in everyday family life.” Parents made faint efforts to get kids to do chores, then negotiated with them, and often just gave up.

Families in developing countries and indigenous cultures do not have this problem. Instead, chores are seen as a normal part of family life, with kids simply falling into line with what the adults are doing. In child development research, this is called “Learning by Observing and Pitching In,” or LOPI. Education scholars Andrew Coppins and Lucía Alcalá write that “Children developing the ability to ‘see’ and to ‘hear, listen to it’ are considered central aspects of children's development in some Maya communities in México, where parents see an intelligent child as one who has developed observational skills and is responsible and respectful.” Kids work because that’s just what everyone is doing.

Why is there such a difference between the Maya and middle-class parents in industrialized countries? The answer probably lies in the changing culture of industrialized countries that has been going on slowly for several decades. These changes were summarized by sociologist Jean Twenge in her book Generations (2023):

• Increasing individualism - letting people (including kids) define their own role in life

• “Slow-life strategy” - longer life spans, increased cost of education, and longer working years lead people to grow up more slowly. Childhood is extended. As Twenge puts it, “the risk of death is lower, but the risk of falling behind economically is higher … so parents choose to have fewer children and nurture them more extensively.”

From this perspective, little kids aren’t doing summer jobs for the same reason that teenagers aren’t – they’re preparing for college! Kids are in organized summer enrichment activities or organized play dates, not doing chores or unstructured play. It’s not just that kids don’t want to “learn by observing and pitching in” –  parents expect these things less, too.

(Set aside for a moment that kids spend a lot of time on mobile devices. That's a real issue for another time.)

Most parents I talk to want their children to have experience working. Research suggests that this is a good impulse. For teenagers, getting a summer job increases one’s chances of completing high school on time and getting a mentor, among other benefits. Small children doing chores improves their basic cognitive functioning. And as I’ve personally experienced, it actually helps keep the house clean!

Here are a couple tips for getting them started that have worked for my family.

1. Have the whole family do chores at the same time, including parents. Especially parents! Having a chore time brings a sense of shared responsibility. If kids feel that “I’m the only one who ever does anything around here!” (all evidence to the contrary) or see anyone sitting around, they won’t want to work as hard. Also, when everyone works at the same time it’s easier to see the house getting cleaner. People work better when they think their work is accomplishing something and that their work makes a difference.

2. Train each child to do a specific task. This should require something a little more involved than “clean up,” and can involve using a special tool. This allows them to build a skill, which can help them feel pride in their work. For example, our seven-year-old’s job is “gardener,” which permits him to use the gardening tools he’s been trained on.

These ideas are only scratching the surface of course, so if you have experience with the effects of teen work or having kids do chores, please comment below. We need more ideas! For the next Paper Robots post, I'll be digging deeper into what does and doesn't motivate people. See you then.