I’m afraid that my two little boys (ages 8 and 6) feel a tad too entitled. They want, want, want, and then they want some more. And when they don’t get a new toy just a few days after scoring Clone Wars action figures, they get cranky and moody and mopey. Why do they always want more than we already give them? Do they not appreciate how good they have it? Probably not. So we’re teaching them. Our lesson plan: chores. We want them to know they are contributing members of our family, that they are not merely the recipients of all things good, that they must give a little too.

My boys are making their own beds (if you can call tossing blankets and pillows on top of a mattress “making” a bed), they’re dragging trashcans to the curb on Monday nights and yanking them back up on Tuesday afternoons. They are (kind of) washing dishes, and they are cultivating a closer relationship with yard work. When one boy asks for a bowl of strawberries, we tell him, “sure, go ahead and get yourself some.” And when the littler boy asks for a drink, we urge him to the fridge to quench his own thirst (we keep drinks on a bottom shelf so he can actually accomplish this task). We don’t have a chore list or anything, we’re just kind of winging it. There are no rewards for completion, and we’re not doling out allowance. These are the jobs we think they need to do just because they live in our house — and just because we want them to know that visiting the toy aisle is not their sole purpose in this world.

Do your kids have chores? Tell us what they do and whether or not it helps their behavior.