What was your most hated chore as a child?

Oh forgot as well as occasional trips to the corner shop, I did pod peas, I was often given that task, but I know I enjoyed it, and being summer I sat in the garden whilst I was doing it. I think I remember scavenging about for a blackberry or two whilst I was out there later in the year any I managed to collect went into a pie with apples. .......and I did a bit of sheet folding with my mum too. Not a lot in the great scheme of things.

My sister & I never did any chores. My mother used to say she wanted us out from under her feet. I never made my kids do any either. I think childhood is the only time in your life that you don't have any responsibilities and you should be allowed to enjoy it.

Worst chore! Not having a home telephone, I had to go to the village phone box to ring Grandma to see if she was visiting that week. Always, once in that box, needed the loo. Then had to gallop home. ?

My sister and I had to go round almost the entire house each Saturday morning to do the wretched dusting and polishing. One of us had the applying duster (lavender polish in a flat round tin) and the other had to buff. Also, we had to use that horrible pink stuff on mirrors - Windolene. The 'buffer' had the rough end of the wedge as it were, while the applier had the easier bit. We swapped over a couple of times as the buffer got fed up.

Elder brother didn't do this as he was at work, younger bro' didn't as he was a little too young, also implied that it was because 'he was a boy.' He'd be sent out on an errand sometimes and he got to keep the change (never refused, Mum said - was that the reason why?)

Did it give me a sense of responsibility towards household tasks? No, it didn't. To this day I loathe dusting and ignore it until it absolutely must be dealt with.

I hated having to fill the coal scuttle from the coal shed which was a walk away from the house. It was particularly bad after dark as the feral cats that lived in the woods near our house could get in.
When I opened the door they would leap out with shriek and scare the living daylights out of me. They were black so not easy to spot in amongst the coal.

Whiting my tennis shoes,

What a brilliant thread OP - I’ve really enjoyed reading these, it’s been a great trip down memory lane. Thank you !

Oh Chewbacca, your poor fingers, and having to pay for a replacement, cruel.
I suppose I had some chores, but I don't really remember now.

All water under the bridge Auntiflo, what doesn't break you makes you stronger!

As an only child I had to do all the chores on my own. I remember having to ‘wash the pots’ (I found out from my Southern husband that this is a Northern phrase). As I’m small I had to drag a stool to reach the taps, so must have only been about six. Weeding, going to the shops, filling the coal scuttle, filling the coke boiler, taking out the ashes and setting the fire then lighting it with a gas poker!! Laying the table, clearing the table. My mum worked nights as a nurse, so when I came home from school she would be in bed so I had to make myself a drink and something to eat.

4 of us and me the eldest, we had to sort the kitchen each night, i hated washing dishes as i don't like the feel of hot soapy water, after dishes i had to sweep and wash the floor. only other job was to light the fire when i got in from school, but i loved that as i love the smell of firelighters (they don't smell the same now). some so called chores i was happy to do, like turn the wringer when mum washed the clothes in the sink...lol.

My Granny loved brass. She had loads of it and my heart would sink when I visited her to see the kitchen table covered with newspaper and all her brass ornaments laid out on it. The worst thing to clean was a bell shaped like a lady in a crinoline. There were so many folds in her skirt and I was never quick enough to rub Brasso over it, rubbing it into the folds with an old toothbrush and then polishing it before the Brasso dried.

I’ve split up my answers so as not to engage in a misery fest.

Daily bed-making meant stripping the wet sheet off the bed (sometimes all four of us slept in one small double bed - boys’ heads at the bottom, girls’ at the top) and put the sheets in to soak. My sister wet the bed every night until she was thirteen and my youngest brother also wet the bed very often. When the mattress had been turned (by us children) we had to make the beds. On Saturdays my stepfather used to turn his bedding down to expose the sheet (after we’d made the bed) and there was always a wrinkle in the bottom sheet - it had a feather mattress - then he’d literally pull the whole mattress off the bed and tell us to re-make it. We used to think he had X-ray eyes because he always found a wrinkle, even when we were certain there wasn’t one. Like I said, he was cruel.

I am one of three but we weren't expected to do a great deal of house work. We often set the table for tea and after a meal we washed up. Mum would say " one wash , one dry and one put away" Kate 1949 we burnt coke too, it was kept in the cellar , occasionally I would be asked to bring some up for the fire - I was never very happy going down the stone steps for coke !

Georgesgran
Same as you an 'only' and at the age of twelve given the job of weekend fruit and veg shopping at our local farmers'market.

I can remember we three children had to wash up after Sunday afternoon tea. I used to wash and my brother and sister, both younger, would dry and put away.
Over time my brother and I twigged that our sister had started to always "need the toilet," and would then come sauntering in just as we'd finished. Good avoidance tactic...
So one Sunday we decided to wait, then when she reappeared we said, "Oh, as you're here now we'll get started."
Her face was a picture, and she actually said, "I thought you'd be finished by now" !!

I've only read a few and I'm saving it for later. Great thread thanks *littleflo.

I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't have to do anything.

There were 2 chores I hated more than all the others.

Getting the rugs out onto the washing line and beating them with the carpet beater.

Coming back from the corner shop with those shopping bags with string handles - especially in winter with no gloves.

Mashing my baby sister's food with a fork when she was being weaned. It took ages to get it to a fine pulp and my hands and wrists ached for ages afterwards. No liquidisers in our house back in the 60's!!!!

I was very lucky - I’d no chores to do apart from going to the corner shop and local Coop fairly regularly. It was a trial though - I had to speak up about my mam saying she doesn’t want bruised apples/fatty bacon/broken biscuits…. If anything didn’t pass muster I’d to go straight back with it. So embarrassing but probably character building!

I did used to collect sea coal from the beach with my dad and make it into paper parcels for the coal fire, but I chose to do that as I loved being with him. And when we lived in a Workingmen’s Club I had various jobs for which I was paid handsomely - stocking shelves behind the bar, heating and dishing up the pie and peas orders from our adjoining house etc. Probably not ideal for a junior school child in there on her own, but I loved the responsibility and the pocket money!

Hated sweeping the stairs, I am asthmatic but in those days it wasn’t recognized. My brother being a boy didn’t do anything.

Polishing shoes for the whole family on a Sunday,using a toothbrush to scrub the grout, cleaning all the doors down on a Saturday and cleaning the kitchen very night,lovely jobs just for me not my brothers

Going to the laundrette on a cold wet Sunday with my sisters it wasn't every week,just when my mum was in a bad mood and wanted some peace and quiet or when the weather was so rotten she couldn't get it all done. It was a long way to the laundrette and the bags were so heavy. I hated the smell of the dry cleaning machine in there, it made my chest bad & gave me a headache so I was really glad if it wasn't being used.
We often had to try & find a shop that was open to get enough change for the washers and dryers, but back then there weren't many open then and the pubs were shut until 7pm too so we couldn't even try them, even if we'd dared go in. So it was either the newsagents or the one of the two garages at either end of town. Sometimes depending on who was working the register, they wouldn't give you their precious change unless you bought something, but we weren't allowed to so we'd have to wait for someone else to come into the shop to buy something and then we could get some change before they closed the till drawer. Woe betide us when we went back home if the laundry wasn't quite dry and there was no change left to give our mother.

My sister and I had two jobs which alternate d week by week .The best was tidying our shared bedroom ,the other which I hated was on hands and knees scrubbing the vestibule and donkeystoning the front step .
Much worse if any school friends saw us.Our other hated job was softening the butter in front of the fire,if you didn't watch it carefully it turned liquid and we were in trouble.
I still have trouble softening butter in the microwave .!!