New Spanish Law Would Require Children To Do Household Chores

Young Jean helps out with the washing up, circa 1955. (Photo by Susan Schiff Faludi/Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (2008 Getty Images)

Well, this is a law every grown-up in the world may be willing to back.

The Spanish parliament is considering a law requiring children to do their chores. The measure is part of a larger Child Protection Bill in Spain, and if it gets passed, children under 18 will be legally bound to do housework "in accordance with their age and regardless of their gender."

And it doesn't stop there.

Under the law, children in Spain will also have to "respect their teachers and fellow students," "participate in family life" and "respect their parents and siblings."

But, of course, there is always a caveat when things sound too good to be true.

The current draft of the law does not mandate penalties for children who fail to do the things adults have been wanting them to do since the dawn of time.

That, alas, will be up to the parents. But at least next time little Billy or Sally decide not to wash the dishes or take out the trash, you can tell them they are quite literally breaking the law.

Of course the measure has some weighing in on whether a country should even waste their time on a law that has no real weight, even though there seems to be a need more than ever for regulated chore time. As Time Magazine points out: “Kids ages 6 to 12 now do less than a half an hour of housework a day on average, according to Sandra Hofferth, a professor of family science at the University of Maryland.”

As for the other parts of the Child Protection Bill, the law would establish a list of known pedophiles who could be banned from working with children and the legislation would require people working with children to report possible crimes against children.