Memory Lane Friday - Chore Time

This week's Memory Lane Friday theme is "Chore Time."

I don't remember having any regular daily or weekly chores assigned to me, such as "put the trash can out on the curb the night before 'trash day'" or anything like that.

What I do remember is expecting to be "on call" for that moment when my mom said something like, "Clean the kitchen after dinner tonight" or "Here - take these (the clean, folded towels for example) and put them in your bathroom (or wherever the item belonged)."

I certainly wasn't chore-less, but I just didn't have anything assigned specifically to ME. It was basically whatever came up. However, I do remember having to clean the kitchen after dinner a LOT. And sometimes, when I was old enough, I would have to make dinner, too.

Anyway, since I'm the oldest sibling, I ended up getting the chores with the most responsibilities.

For instance, if my parents went out for dinner or to a movie or a special function, I got to be the babysitter. Of course, since I was also the sibling, I didn't get paid for my babysitting duties.

When I was old enough to drive, and since I was the first kid to get a driver's license (being the oldest), I got to run the errands (go to the grocery store, go pick up x, y, or z at the pharmacy or Target, etc.).

I remember occasionally helping my brothers with their homework -  a specific science project for my youngest brother comes to mind. This one was where he we had to collect various bugs and such and put them in the "critter box" (a wood box with mesh sides for air flow).

However, we always seemed to have at least one family dog in the house, ever since I was very young. When I was old enough, and since I was the oldest kid in the family, I found that the dog care responsibilities started being fulfilled by me.

I guess the grooming, feeding, watering, and . . . uh . . . the "poop patrol" . . . are "chores."And I was expected to do all of that.

I actually found that I liked all the dog care stuff, so aside from poop patrol, I didn't find it to be a chore.

I do, however, remember a time in the middle of summer on a hot, humid day, that I had wanted to go swimming instead of doing poop patrol. I complained so much and made such a big deal about the stink and the gross-factor that my grandmother became flabbergasted and just went out there and did it herself.

I'm a little bit embarrassed now, just thinking about how my Oma went out there and did it that gross chore, but it had to be done; I guess she thought it would be easier if she just went out and did it, just to get it over with, right?

 Here's Toby, our German Shepherd - one of the many dogs our family had:

 We had Toby through the early to mid 1980s. When I was in high school, she went to live with a family with a huge plot of land, so she could have room to run a lot. This is the photo of her at their place.

So there you have it - my view of "Chore Time" in my family, when I was growing up.

Click on the "Memory Lane Fridays" button to check out this week's other posts:

Then come back next week when the topic is "It Was My Friend's Idea."