Teaching my lil one the dignity of Labour
Little A had a habit of dropping her toys anywhere she pleased and being the slightly OCD character that I am I would promptly pick it up and put it in its place once she was done with it. As a toddler she watched me put things back and back then I did it because I would be the only one who would promptly trip and fall over such toy mines that littered all over my house floor. Surreptitiously she observed and slowly she started helping me not always though. Age 5 is a great age where the curious minds are eager to listen and respond in equal measure. I would regale her with stories of how we did quite a bit of the housework since we were three siblings.
She seemed interested and therein began my slow but regular practice of getting her to dirty her hands, literally! The initiation began with small things mixing the sugar for the lemon juice or packing up after a frenzied day at play. Then began the slightly bigger things of cleaning up her room or making her bed. Slowly she noticed that things were not that difficult, but they did get boring. So I introduced new things like dusting her bicycle to helping me wash the car (which she was thrilled to do!) to small cooking chores of peeling garlic pods to shelling green peas. One day after school she announced "I will wash my lunchbox Amma you don't do it". I nodded sagely and she did wash her lunch box quite sincerely for a few days. But once the novelty wore off she moved on to different other things that included dusting with me and helping me in my vegetable shopping to folding her clothes to handing wet clothes that need to be hung out to dry.
Why do I persist with such chores and insist that she help me in some way? Because she needs to understand the physical aspect of labour. She needs to understand that everyone needs to be involved in doing small chores and every little effort helps. Of course I reward her as well with small things a candy or a lemonade. The little thrill she gets from a happy thank you from me is nothing compared to the competitive streak that she now gets when she says "See my bed is done more neatly than yours"! Suffice to say I am all for children being part of small household chores just like each of us did when we were little.
She seemed interested and therein began my slow but regular practice of getting her to dirty her hands, literally! The initiation began with small things mixing the sugar for the lemon juice or packing up after a frenzied day at play. Then began the slightly bigger things of cleaning up her room or making her bed. Slowly she noticed that things were not that difficult, but they did get boring. So I introduced new things like dusting her bicycle to helping me wash the car (which she was thrilled to do!) to small cooking chores of peeling garlic pods to shelling green peas. One day after school she announced "I will wash my lunchbox Amma you don't do it". I nodded sagely and she did wash her lunch box quite sincerely for a few days. But once the novelty wore off she moved on to different other things that included dusting with me and helping me in my vegetable shopping to folding her clothes to handing wet clothes that need to be hung out to dry.
Why do I persist with such chores and insist that she help me in some way? Because she needs to understand the physical aspect of labour. She needs to understand that everyone needs to be involved in doing small chores and every little effort helps. Of course I reward her as well with small things a candy or a lemonade. The little thrill she gets from a happy thank you from me is nothing compared to the competitive streak that she now gets when she says "See my bed is done more neatly than yours"! Suffice to say I am all for children being part of small household chores just like each of us did when we were little.
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