It seems that everywhere around the world, people are spending more time on work and less time with their families and friends. People are _________ than ever before!

In the past in many countries, the father worked and the _________ stayed at home, took care of the children, and did the shopping, cooking and cleaning. Now, in most of the families, parents need to work on weekdays, _________ they both have to do the shopping and cleaning in their free time. Parents don’t have much time with their _________. However, they often had time in the past. There are also many single-parent (单亲的) families. In these families, the single parent has to do _________.

These days, many children come home from school to an empty apartment or house. Lots of children _________ many hours each day sitting in front of the television. Even the families are together, it is _________ for family members to do things by themselves. _________, they watch programs on their own TVs in different rooms, they use the Internet, they _________ friends on the telephone, and they do other activities by themselves.

Isn’t it strange? Thanks to technology (科技), people are able to communicate so __________ with people far away, but sometimes they don’t communicate with people in their own homes.

Should children do chores?

People _______ that children as young as 18 months can help with chores. When people say to those children, “Just look at the paper,” _______ will pick it up. Some parents think childhood (童年) is just for playing, _______ they don’t ask their children to do chores. Other parents have a different opinion, but they still give their children no chores. They say, “I know it’s not right, but it’s _______ to do it by myself!”

Most parents believe that chores are a way of _______ children responsibility (责任), anyway. Children learn to help, share and care about others by doing chores. Things like taking care of a pet or a baby and helping make meals are some _______ of helping others.

Well, I think there are some other very good _______ for children to do chores:

★To feel good: Doing chores helps children _______ that they’re part of the team. They feel happier when they do something meaningful for the family.

★To learn skills (技巧): Children will learn _______ to cook, clean and do other things in the house. These life skills will serve them well throughout (贯穿整个时期) their lives.

All in all, it’s good ________ children to grow up doing chores. So start to help your parents with the chores. Act now!