Kids Can (and Should) Work

One of the greatest ways to love our children is to teach them skills they will need in order to succeed as adults. I believe children, even young children, should learn to work.

I am a mom, not a slave to clean up after everyone in my house. Sometimes I feel I spend my whole day cleaning and the house is still a mess. I know it won't always be this way; I have a little helper in training.

My toddler is not even two yet and she helps with laundry- she separates the socks from the rest of the clean load. She also puts her own clothes away. Someday I might have her fold them, for now she does what she can. Toddlers can do a lot more things than we give them credit for. My daughter puts her own dishes away (we put hers in a lower cupboard so she can do this) and she is learning to set and clean off the table. From the time she was walking she was Mommy's Helper.  She helps wipe up spills she makes and when crayon ends up on the wall, you can guess who gets to help me scrub it off.

Children are capable, but we must allow them the time to learn.  Work makes them responsible.

I love this old article on delegating work to children- Delegating Work and Responsibility to Children, LDS Ensign.  I particularly love the section about Our Attitudes and Methods.

Not every child is ready for the same amount of work. I started small to let her experience success. She carried one or two washcloths to the bathroom, now she brings me all of them. While she is still at the age she loves to help I will gladly let her splash in dish water or uncoordinatedly swing a child size broom. Does it take time? Yes.  Will the effort be worth it? Yes.

Someday she will do more than dump dish water all over the counters, push a toy vacuum, or sweep her broom around the kitchen (often sending dirt in the wrong direction).

Does it take work to teach a child to work? Yes. But then again, motherhood isn't about a sparkling clean house, it's more about raising children who are able to take care of themselves.