Chores: expectations, accountability, and professions of love By Bill Stork, DVM Chores: noun. A chewy, single-syllable word, with one muddy vowel sound in the middle. Spoken by a software engineer in Chicago mowing the boulevard of his bungalow with an electric Craftsman before coaching T-ball, or a Wyoming Cowboy riding fencelines. It always comes out with a Midwest-mushmouth: “I’ll be ready to go, right after chores are done.” The word may feel like a wad of used barn shavings in the mouth. Yet, I submit there are few things we can learn more, teach more, or benefit from, than chores. From a nine-year-old boy burdened by unloading the dishwasher, it’s like dragging an anvil: “Mom says I c
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