Most parents have tried it all. Chore charts, rewards, threats, punishment. We resolve to make our kids pitch in, then give up because they wear us down with their selective listening or irresponsibility. But chores and housework are part of everyday life. We prepare our children for life by sending them to school, but they should learn how to manage a home as well. “I worry that this generation of kids is going to think there’s a free ride out there,” said Georgette Constantinou, administrative director of pediatric psychiatry at Akron Children’s Hospital. She cautions that parents underestimate how important it is to have kids do chores. Local parents echo that sentiment. “When I was growing up, I had a lot of chores to do,” said Jen LaPlante, a mother of three girls who lives in Gustavus. “We lived on a farm, so we had animals to take care of and outside chores.” Start young, Constantinou advises. Make everyone accountable to be a part of the team that is the family.