Having teens clean the house on spring break, fair or not?

[merry2018]

I have 2 teen girl that are 17 year old and in few weeks it's a spring break for them. Both I and my husband work. Girl have regular chores of keeping their room clean, do their own laundry, wash dishes etc. Been both girls going to be home during the break, i want them to clean the house completely top to bottom. .House is 2500 sqft and we do not have a maid. Husband thinks this is unfair as it's their time off. However i am arguing that being both are not working and soon to be adults, they can spend 1 day and give the house complete cleaning. What is everyone here thinking? Am i being too hard on them?

[Taylor-RO]

Hi @merry2018, that is a really difficult situation to reach a decision on. It is up to you and your husband to figure out whether this is fair or not. As you said, it is only one day but how long would the cleaning take? Also, how do you think your daughter's are likely to feel about cleaning the house? That can make a really massive difference!

[PapaBill]

I have my late teens help me with large chores
What I have found works for us is plenty of notice of the chores then letting them chose when they do them in date range

Tells them about their responsibilities while requiring them to contribute to household upkeep

[JAKGR8]

It’s definitely fair. They live there. It’s not going to take the whole break and they need to know that getting older leads to more responsibilities. 

You can discuss what you’d like done, what they’re prepared to do, how you expect the results to look and agree upon a time frame. HINT: ask for more than you want. 

Our eldest comes home for break expecting jobs and cooks most nights when on holidays. It’s called life skills 😀😉

[Orbit64]

My daughter is great helping around the house with specific jobs. I have used the strategy of teaching her how to do other things around the house so that she knows how to do it when she moves into a share house or flat of her own. That could be an approach to use with your husband? Let them learn how to do it now, rather than the hard way on their own? Especially if they are both already co-operative. 

I was showing my daughter just the other day how to remove and clean the filter in the bottom of the dishwasher. I do it once a week and it keeps it fresh. I guessed it would be one of those things she never even knew was a regular job done by either her mum or dad. 

We often do a father / daughter floor vacuum and floor wash blitz on a Saturday while my wife is out. We’ve found we can work really well together and do it so much faster with the two of us working together. I start clearing and moving furniture, she follows with the vacuums, I then follow around and wash the floor, she dries the floor with towels after me. We get a large area done in about an hour. 

Oh, that’s a wicked thought, suggest your husband does it with them as a bonding activity?! This Aussie dad does. 

[JAKGR8]

Like your thinking @Orbit64 

[nexux1]

https://forums.parents.au.reachout.com/