Personally I would consider allowing your child to live in your house and eat your food part of being a parent and I feel sorry for any children whose parents treat them as a liability. You still havn\'t answered how old your child is. Yes, they should be doing chores and helping out around the home. What you ask them to do is another matter. If they say none of their friends have to do chores, that is irrelevant to them because they are not their friends. It\'s the old 'If x jumped off a cliff..' deal. Respect your parents. Help out and clean up because you helped make the mess (or, it was made in part because of your existence in the household). It\'s not an unfair thing to have requested of you once in a while. Your mother carried you for 9 months and then squeezed you out painfully betwixt her thighs. I think she deserves a bit of help just for that. When you move out, you\'ll be doing them ALL yourself. Trust me - you will appreciate the self-discipline you learn now later in life.