My initial comment was a joke in reaction to @LuckyGuy‘s mention that we have kids in order to one day have grandkids. I wasn’t directing the statement at or about him, nor was I making any religious connotations – it was just a joke. I wasn’t even aware that LuckyGuy identifies as Jewish, so your comment struck me as being out of left field, @JLeslie.
Growing up, I had far fewer chores than my Jewish BFF (whom I’ve known since Kindergarten) and her sisters – and we did feel like her mom had them just to have someone to do the housework, because they did EVERYTHING. There was no family business to leave to the kids, and they – like numerous other Jewish people I know – are working-class. I do not generalize or stereotype that people who follow one particular religion always get a higher education and always becomes doctors and lawyers, etc.
In all honesty, I had a kid because I got pregnant while taking birth control pills. Yeah, I hoped to have kids one day – but I don’t recall having a conscious reason, other than because it is an amazing experience that I hoped to have one day. I made him do some chores because it is how one learns to do these things and to be responsible. I didn’t teach him enough, to be honest; and as a single, stressed-out, emotionally unstable mother, I have several regrets.
Now that I have mellowed with age and conscious effort to overcome the problems of my own childhood, I know that I will have more time and patience with grandkids that I did not have enough of with my son. That is why I hope to to have grandkids one day – to be able to really enjoy the experience of participating in their childhood and watching them learn and grow.