About Children

Chores and Young Children
by Beth Thompson, Aspiring Midwife
 

Beth is the oldest of seven children--Caleb (15), Miriam (13), Benjamin (11), Lydia (8), Tabitha (5), and Rebekah(1).  She is full of joy and cheerfulness and is an always willing servant within her family.  When she is not working on finishing her school studies for her senior year, she loves to read, knit, help with her younger siblings, babysit, cook, read her Bible, play piano and viola, participate in the Richmond Youth Strings orchestra, go for walks, and spend time with her family.  She took on the responsibility of the family garden during this past summer season and did a wonderful job growing some amazing veggies. She always has a ready smile and word of encouragement for everyone and radiates the LORD every day.  Beth is the oldest child of our very own Rachel Thompson.  Rachel is a Charis coach for the doula / childbirth educator program and has been an absolute wonderful servant for many pregnant families.

Instilling responsibility in young children is important, especially when they are very young and their characters are still developing.  The attitude that is created in them toward work will be carried with them throughout their entire lives.  Involving children in everyday chores gives them opportunities to learn responsibility and develop a healthy attitude toward work.

Helpful Children

Even very young toddlers can help with the household chores, and should!  Being part of the family means that they are part of the team, and therefore, ought to help out with the daily workload.  Children are more likely to be willing and ready to work if they can tell that their help is valuable.  The little ones love to work alongside Mama (or big sister or brother).  When it is time to fold laundry, they can fold washcloths and cloth napkins and match socks (a good lesson in putting like colors together).  My younger sisters hang out the cloth diapers on a drying rack, bring them in when they are dry, fold them, and put them away.  They can help set napkins and silverware around the table before supper and clear their place when they are through.  Dusting is also a good chore for small children.  As parents and older siblings, we have the opportunity to encourage the children in their work by genuinely praising them when they do a good job.  They will be assured that they are part of the family team, and that we are proud of them!

My siblings and I have always been required to tidy up our own messes. If we got toys out, it was our job to clean them up also.  As soon as a baby is capable of taking his toys out of a basket to play with, he is able to put them back in again.  Even just this morning, my twelve month old sister got hold of a washable marker and drew on the linoleum kitchen floor.  We gave her a wet rag, and cheerfully told her, “Wash the floor”.  She took the rag, and wiped up the blue marker streaks.  She is learning now, as a young toddler, to be responsible about cleaning up her own messes.

One year old Rebekah washing the floor

Regular Jobs

In our home, we each have chores that need to be done daily, many before we eat breakfast.  It is helpful for young children to have a chart with their duties outlined for them, so that they know what is expected of them.  For the ones who cannot yet read, you can take pictures of them doing their daily chores (such as making their beds, cleaning up their toys, putting away their clothes, brushing their teeth), and make a “picture chart” for them.

Feeding our animals is one of the regular chores that we do every morning before we eat breakfast.  Proverbs 12:10 says, “A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast”, and so each morning we feed our “beasts” (chickens, rabbits, and a kitty), before we ourselves eat.

Kitchen duties are switched around in our family, and with the help of the “meal wheel”, we all know when it is our turn to have clean up in the kitchen.  The wheel consists of two cardboard circles, each divided into a certain number of sections depending on how many children are involved in cleaning the entire kitchen, with the kitchen duties written on the outer circle, and our names written on the inner circle.  Every week, we turn the inner circle, and we each get a different kitchen assignment.  This allows for some variation in the kitchen cleaning job and opportunity to learn different skills.  The wheel method could be used for other chores as well.  Even though our youngest siblings are not carrying the load of cleaning the entire kitchen at this point, they help with things like distributing napkins at meal time, and putting away clean dishes once they are washed.

Meal Wheel

Each of us also have assigned rooms that we are responsible to keep neat and tidy.  In every room, there is a list that outlines what must be done before the room may be considered “clean”.  Since children's idea of clean may differ from Mother's, it helps them to know what is they are expected to do.  The little ones come along side the older children in the family and work with them, learning the skills of keeping house and sensing that they are part of the effort.

My siblings enjoy playing the “180 second game”, in which one person counts to 180, while everyone cleans up as fast as they possibly can.  The idea is to see if they can finish cleaning the room before the “counter” reaches 180 seconds.  This makes cleaning a room more like a game than a chore, because everyone is “racing against the clock”.  We have used many different numbers in the past, and if the mess is a smaller one, we could play the 60 second game, instead of the 180 second game.  Making work fun always causes us to enjoy it more.


Our Attitude Towards Work

Example is the best teacher of all.  Children learn more about work and responsibility from watching Mama and Daddy (or big sister and brother) and from working with them, than from anything “taught” with words.  If we all do our work cheerfully and “heartily, as unto the LORD” (Col. 3:23), the little ones will see that, and know that work is to be done with a good attitude!  On the flip side, if our attitude declares that we consider chores a burden, the children will not be inclined to help with the work.  When work is performed with a thankful heart, it becomes much more fun for everyone!

Children who are taught to work when they are young will know how to be responsible adults when they are grown.  It is important that a good work ethic is instilled in these little ones, because when they are older, they will need to know how to work diligently and carry larger loads.  More importantly, GOD has created us to be able to work, and he gave us six days in which we are to do all our work (Exodus 20:9).  Let us, with these little ones alongside us, do our work with all our might, as unto our LORD!

Five year old Tabitha

Eight year old Lydia