If you catch a child at the age they want to help or do everything for themselves, that is when you can really start fostering self sufficiency and the work ethic. All but one of my kids are hard workers. My two oldest daughters worked as housekeepers and laundry workers in nursing homes, at young ages. Not only did they learn to work hard, they learned how to be more compassionate to the elderly and disabled. My oldest granddaugther works hard inside and outside the house.
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If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8 KJV
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 KJV
Good stuff. I make my boys work around the house. The 11 yr old can cook basic breakfast and lunch stuff and helps with dinner. He cleans, vacuums, changes diapers, can do laundry, and starting next week will learn to mow and trim the yard. The 4 yr old does help w/stuff here and there but nothing consistent yet. He's our challenge. The 3 month old doesn't do much yet. We're praying for him. Lazy kid.
My oldest son wants to start making money so it'll be a good time to teach him about banking and accounting. He learned a little about debt the other day. He forgot to take his cellphone out of his pants and they got washed. I made him pay the $60 for the phone by working it off around the house at $5 an hour. I told him this was like being in debt, you work your butt off for somebody else and don't see the money in your pocket. He didn't like it. haha.
Interestingly enough, just the other day he asked me about alternators and how they work. How weird is that?
Like Rico I didn't learn any of this myself when at home. So I want to make sure my kids are equipped with the fundamentals of running their own home when they leave my home. I've made too many mistakes, especially financially, because of my lack of training in those basic areas. Hopefully my kids won't make the same mistakes.
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"Most human beings are not able to stand the message of the shaking of foundations. They reject and attack the prophetic minds, not because they really disagree with them, but because they sense the truth of their words and cannot receive it." Paul Tillich
If you catch a child at the age they want to help or do everything for themselves, that is when you can really start fostering self sufficiency and the work ethic. All but one of my kids are hard workers. My two oldest daughters worked as housekeepers and laundry workers in nursing homes, at young ages. Not only did they learn to work hard, they learned how to be more compassionate to the elderly and disabled. My oldest granddaugther works hard inside and outside the house.
Having 5 boys it is one of their jobs to carry in the groceries. My littlest boy is almost 2 and he insists on carrying a bag, even if it is too heavy. When my daughter does her chores he helps her with whatever she is doing, including cooking. Right now it is fun to him and he doesn't know it is work. If they are trained to be a part of the family when they are little it helps when they are older knowing they are needed to do their part.
Having 5 boys it is one of their jobs to carry in the groceries. My littlest boy is almost 2 and he insists on carrying a bag, even if it is too heavy. When my daughter does her chores he helps her with whatever she is doing, including cooking. Right now it is fun to him and he doesn't know it is work. If they are trained to be a part of the family when they are little it helps when they are older knowing they are needed to do their part.
My husband often works long hours and it is so funny, because my 14 year-old son tries to step into the man role when he can. If it is cold and we need a fire, he will be bringing in wood, making kindling, carrying heavy stuff; anything that his Dad would be doing, he will do and not allow the "girls" (myself and my daughter) to help. But if it is a "kid job" like taking out the trash, or cleaning up his room, he has to be asked...
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Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
"You will be hated for my sake-Just remember that it should be for MY sake and not YOURS-
Do NOT act in such a way as to be offensive, and then blame it on me"
Just make sure you are watching closely, when my daughter was about 10 or 11, I bought some Easy-Mac, the kind you can make in the microwave by just adding water. Nasty stuff, but it was for her to use in a pinch.
One night she decided she wanted to make a snack and went down to the kitchen to make some. She came back upstairs while she was waiting. I smelled something funny and started to go downstairs.
When I got to the staircase, there was smoke drifting up. I ran down and went to the microwave; the macaroni was black in the bowl. I was trying to figure out what in the world had happened, and I was asking my daughter what she did.
She said "I followed the directions".
I said "obviously not".
She said "I did, I promise".
I am looking at the bowl and there is not one hint of moisture.
I said "did you add the water?"
Blank look.... she said "Oooohhh".
*gasp* My SARAH did the EXACT same thing!!!! LOL!!! During the ice storm last year, our electricity went out, so we were staying at a friend's house. We came back from the grocery store, and the entire house smelled like burnt tuna (or something equally terrible)!!!! Sarah put the Easy Mac in the microwave with no water and burnt it to a CRISP!
The bad part? My dear absent minded daughter repeated the mistake a couple of months later in the church microwave.
*sigh*
I have a LOT of work to do. Hannah (the oldest) is already very proficient in the kitchen, but Sarah (age 10)...I'm not sure I'd trust her to boil water.
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"God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours."
--David Livingstone
"To see no being, not God’s or any, but you also go thither,
To see no possession but you may possess it—enjoying all without labor or purchase—
abstracting the feast, yet not abstracting one particle of it;…."
--Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, Song of the Open Road
My husband often works long hours and it is so funny, because my 14 year-old son tries to step into the man role when he can. If it is cold and we need a fire, he will be bringing in wood, making kindling, carrying heavy stuff; anything that his Dad would be doing, he will do and not allow the "girls" (myself and my daughter) to help. But if it is a "kid job" like taking out the trash, or cleaning up his room, he has to be asked...
*gasp* My SARAH did the EXACT same thing!!!! LOL!!! During the ice storm last year, our electricity went out, so we were staying at a friend's house. We came back from the grocery store, and the entire house smelled like burnt tuna (or something equally terrible)!!!! Sarah put the Easy Mac in the microwave with no water and burnt it to a CRISP!
The bad part? My dear absent minded daughter repeated the mistake a couple of months later in the church microwave.
*sigh*
I have a LOT of work to do. Hannah (the oldest) is already very proficient in the kitchen, but Sarah (age 10)...I'm not sure I'd trust her to boil water.
That is hilarious, and actually comforting to know!! I am not alone!
I think teaching your child to cook, is an important task that many parents inadvertantly neglect. I was never taught to cook, and for the first 6 years my husband and I were together, we lived on mainly processed food.
I credit poverty as my real motivation in learning. When it comes to food, you both pay for the convience of not having to make it yourself, not to mention how unhealthy it is.
I only learned 4 years ago, that mashed potatoes didn't come in a box full of flakes.
I was actually so proud of myself the other day. Trying to use up our overabudance of plums from our trees, I made two plum pies. I didn't make the crusts (baby steps, LOL), but the rest was from scratch. They were very yummy, tasted like Cherry Pies.
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