I'm doing this for you, kids! More chores, less enrichment

As a back burner worry, I've been kind of kicking myself all year long over the fact that I haven't signed my kids up for piano lessons. I went and got some piano teacher recommendations from friends. And that's it. As it stands, I have one kid who very naturally will plunk out some notes on the piano, and it actually sounds pretty good. My other kid has almost no interest.

I have a love/hate relationship with enrichment activities for kids. We usually let them do one thing at a time, and it's an activity of their choosing for the most part. I like for them to be active classes. But when it all comes down to it, they often seem like more of a hassle and an upset to the routine than any actual value-add to our lives. Maybe I'm being unfair? They're just kids. Not prodigies. And did you know that Gershwin didn't play a piano until he was 12?

I finally picked up my copy of Free-Range Kids from the library and practically read it in one setting. It was eye-opening, and it's given me the the courage to try some new things. Despite the internal screaming: 'DON'T DO IT!! STOP! YOU'RE ACTING CRAZY!! PRESERVE THE STATUS QUO AT ALL COST! YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT PISSES YOU OFF WHEN YOUR DEAR HUSBAND LOADS THE DISHWASHER THE WRONG WAY!!'

The big change? More chores, less enrichment. My pediatrician had mentioned this at my older daughter's checkup last January. How we parents rarely fail to provide enrichment, but never ask for anything in return from our kids. Then we fume inwardly about what a bunch of ingrates we're raising and wonder why we even bother and just how many thousands of prompts of 'please' and 'thank you' will be necessary before it finally becomes habit?! (Or maybe that's just me…) Heather and I were recently on a walk when we bemoaned our kids seeming inability to take care of their things, despite our best efforts to teach them (blah, blah, blah). Sounding like the middle-age moms that we are, we said things like: 'When I was a kid, I took pristine care of my toys! I understood value!' and  'I had my paper-route and I earned my way!'  And we wonder why they don't understand the value of things... Ahem. Mystery solved.

So our family just dove into the deep end of the pool last night after a quick chat at dinner about what kinds of things they could help out with. There was no grumbling (surprisingly) although a mention of allowance was shot down with the reminder that we do provide clothing, meals, a good school, a warm bed, etc. on a regular basis. Then the 8-year-old and the 5-year-old washed the dishes. Granted, there will be a learning curve. And I'm sure once the honeymoon is over, some real grumbling. But it's nice to see them taking more responsibility.

Do your kids do chores? At what ages did they start, and which responsibilities do they have? Do you tie chores to allowance? What are the consequences for lack of completion or poor performance?