12 Household Chores Kids Had to Master Before Age 10 That Don’t Exist Now

As children growing up in the 1960s and early ’70s, we were considered an integral part of the family business. With no video games or smartphones, kids were expected to adopt new roles that helped the home run efficiently. Here are some of the household chores that kids had to do before they turned ten, and that would shock parents today.

1. Stoking the Furnace

Children as young as eight were responsible for checking coal furnaces and adding coal and removing the ashes to keep warm. Because it was so dirty, our family coordinated to make sure the fire would not die during the day, so we all went down to the dark basement before school with our flashlights.

2. Rotary Mowing the Lawn

Kids were supposed to manually push adult-sized, heavy rotary lawnmowers across the grass. The whir of the blades and smell of freshly cut grass dominated our weekends. Although it felt like pushing a tank, it was great for building arm strength.

3. Beating Rugs Clean

We knew the secret to rug cleaning: we rolled our rugs and dragged them outside. Once spotlessly clean, the rugs would be returned to the house where we would vacuum. Using special carpet beaters, we would make a great workout dust storm, and drew clouds of dust. Everyone knew how to do this.

4. Managing the TV Antenna

All children had to perform the same duty that their parents did when being remote controls for the television by moving the antennae on top of the TV, and then moving it again after their parents changed the channel. Each time an adult made a request to change the channel, all children had to move the TV antennae to another position, which could take anywhere from 10 seconds to a full minute. Each movement, and time taken, would likely determine whether their parents would be able to watch the rest of their favorite TV show without interruption from static.

5. Sifting Coal Ashes

To ensure that older coal fires could last longer and older parents did not have to spend time sifting through other forms of waste to ensure a longer fire, children would filter coal from previous days’ fires. The work was often benefited from another person doing the work, as it meant there would be less work to clean up after. However, this resource was efficiently used by reusing and recycling ashes, which meant the sifted ashes wouldn’t go to waste. Rather, in the winter, they were spread on icy sidewalks.

6. Bringing in the Milk

There was little time in winter for children’s play. The glass from the previous day’s milk delivery would freeze, as would the milk at the top of the glass. Falling milk would likely disturb the cream that had settled at the top of the glass. Children had the greatest responsibility, and they learned to be careful and gentle when handling these.

7. Polishing the Family Shoes

The children were expected to show pride in their appearance and take care of their belongings. All the shoes belonging to the family were polished to a standard above that of their parents, and children learned to clean, polish, and buff shoes. Shoes that had scuff marks before polishing would have a glossy appearance as though they were new.

8. Ironing Handkerchiefs

Before tissues started to become common, children entering the ironing world would begin with handkerchiefs because it was considered safe practice before moving on to more complex things. We experienced the satisfaction of having the squares of cotton be crisp and perfectly flat and learned the importance of ironing at the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ proper ironing temperatures and techniques.

9. Winding the Clocks

Winding the house clock at regular intervals was part of ‘the’ household set schedule even before the era of electric clock. There was a big responsibility involved, and if you forgot to wind it, the entire household would be out of sync. It was an important task that taught responsibility to children.

10. Filling the Coal Scuttle

Filling the coal scuttle was usually one of the chores that children would have to do. It was a tough job that created a lot of coal dust but it taught children the importance of not wasting energy as it kept the house nice and warm.

11. Darning Socks

There is a particular culture that is dominant within the social structure of today’s world, and that is a throwaway culture which seems to expand with time. A sock is considered completely finished once it develops a hole. This may be true for some, however, history of the world’s females includes the skill of ‘darning’. Using a darning egg and some special thread, we would weave carefully across any holes in the family’s socks. The skill of paying attention to detail and having patience seems to be buried deep within the children of today’s world.

12. Washing Walls

The spring cleaning would often take the form of washing each of the walls that comprised the entirety of the house, and children were the ones best suited to cover the lower sections first. It was time consuming and tedious but there was a level of satisfaction that would result from watching the clean surfaces emerge. The rest of the surfaces would be just as clean because we would scrub away the winter’s worth of dust, grime and soot that settled during the coal burning.

13. Blackening the Stove

The use of stove black on a coal or wood stove made it look better and better. The kids would try to do it as neatly as possible to avoid getting stove black all over the place. It was detailed work and often left us looking like chimney sweeps.