On the story the rocket man why won't dougs mother let him do chores around the house? What does she get out of this?

In the story "The Rocket Man," we learn that Doug is the son of a rocket pilot. Doug's father travels to outer space for months at a time, and comes back for only a few days in between. Although Doug seems to admire his father greatly, we learn that Doug's mother struggles to deal with this situation. She suffers a lot, and feels lonely.

One of the ways in which she expresses this is by not letting Doug do anything around the house. This means that all major tasks are still undone by the time Doug's father comes back from his voyages. Doug's mother most likely wants Doug's father to perform all these tasks in order to show his care for his family. She most likely also wants him to feel part of the family unit. It is possible that she believes that, by showing how necessary he is around the house, he will not leave again.