Simple tasks such as washing dishes, drying clothes, cleaning rooms also become "parental tasks", making many mothers exhausted because they both go to work and manage the family.
Tuyet Lan, a 7th-grade student, is the eldest daughter in a family of three children. Below Lan are also two twin brothers. Although she has entered adolescence, Lan almost has no habit of helping her mother with housework in her spare time.
After each meal, the little girl often leaves the bowls and chopsticks on the table. Clothes that are washed by the washing machine are also waiting for their mother to dry. Private rooms are often messy, and personal belongings are not neatly arranged.
Lan's mother (Ms. Nguyen Quynh Trang - an accountant at a small company in Hanoi) works all day, after work she is busy with housework and taking care of her three children.
On days when I return in a tired state, looking at the house messy, the bowls and chopsticks not yet cleaned, the clothes not yet dried, I feel even more pressured, I am exhausted, but if I scold my child forever, it won't work" - Ms. Trang shared.
What makes the mother sad is that every time she reminds her daughter to share work, Lan often thinks that she still has to study and housework is her parents' responsibility.
According to Ms. Trang, she herself has consulted psychologists, experts said that this situation may appear when parents are too protective, doing everything for their children for a long time.
Children gradually get used to being served and consider parental care as obvious.
When talking, the expert told me that housework is not only to help parents reduce burdens but also a way to teach children self-reliance, responsibility and sharing," Ms. Trang shared.
For 7th grade children, families should assign appropriate tasks such as cleaning the room themselves, folding and drying clothes, washing dishes after meals, arranging desks or helping prepare meals.
However, experts also remind me not to turn my older child into someone who has to shoulder all the housework" - Ms. Trang added.
In Lan's family, twin brothers also need to be assigned tasks suitable for their age.
When each member has their own part of the job, she hopes that her children will understand that family is not a place where one person serves everyone, but a place where everyone shares responsibility.
Parents also need to be persistent. If you always did it for your child before, the change would not be possible in a few days. Instead of scolding, assign specific tasks, guide your child to implement them, and record when they complete.
Teaching children to do housework is not to force them to "work", but to help them learn to take care of themselves and care about others.
