Why your child should do household chores

The advert on the left should really read "Chores- safeguards childrens' health".

The recent bouts of snow and the related activities have shown me that children can be active and physically working- I saw 2 teenage girls repeatedly trying to walk up a snow covered slope and sliding down on their backsides- giggling, laughing and working quite hard for 30 minutes. I asked them if they liked P.E. at school and they said no!

If your child is doing chores such as dusting, cleaning, vaccuuming, gardening and putting the rubbish out, then they will be working on aspects of conditioning that will help them at their sport.

Think of doing that first before ferrying them in the car to another "Talent ID camp" of early specialisation and early maturers getting put through over rehearsed tactical drills.

Gene Hooks an athletics coach has written:

“The mechanisation of modern life has robbed our youth of the manual chores which once developed strong bodies. Unless something is done to change our way of life, further athletes will be increasingly weak. …Coaches must realise that improved strength will help an athlete, not hurt him”

Hooks, Gene, Application of Weight Training to Athletics. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, Inc. (1962).

This was written nearly fifty years ago, and I think he has been proven right.