Childhood Chores

What do you remember being told to do as a young child that you absolutely hated to do?

The thing I dreaded the most was taking my younger brothers to the movies with me. It was in a neighboring town and I used my babysitting money to go. I was maybe twelve or thirteen, so they would have been six and nine. I remember whining that my other friends didn’t have to bring their brothers with them. Needless to say, I made them sit far away from me.

As for chores, I remember handing laundry on the clothesline as young as eight or nine. Pretty much the same for washing dishes but I am pretty sure I started with just drying them when my mother washed. By high school, I did all the family ironing and believe it or not, I enjoyed it. I’d put on several favorite records and iron all afternoon. I loved seeing the wrinkles disappearing. My brother who was three years younger than me, decided he would only wear white cotton button-down long sleeve shirts when he was in junior high. Of course they were cotton (this was the early 60s) and needed spray starch. I can still smell them as I ironed them.

The only chore I remember avoiding was when I was in high school. We had moved from Massachusetts to rural New Hampshire and my mother planted a vegetable garden. I hated weeding (we’d never heard of gardening gloves) and getting dirt under my fingernails. To this day, I dislike and avoid gardening of any kind.

What was your hated chore or thing you hated to do as a child?