“You have to be joking,” was my kids’ collective response when we moved back to the U.S. and I broached the subject of chores. 

 

During three years in Africa, their clothes always magically reappeared in their closets, ironed and folded military-style, all toothpaste gunk almost instantly vanished from their sinks, and putting their dirty plates in the general vicinity of the kitchen was the only effort asked of them after meals.