Everything starts at a very young age, like for these young children who had the desires to help the adults in their homes out, translated…
Back when my children were still young, every time I’d started teaching them to do the household chores, my husband would stop me, said that they were still too young, and that it was because I was lazy, that I’d, passed on the chores to my children to manage. Until I was diagnosed with cancer in my children’s elementary years, my husband couldn’t shoulder ALL the chores inside the house, he’d, finally, loosened up, allowed my children, to do their shares around the house.
illustration from the papers online
Actually, I’d always believed, that household chores aren’t just women’s obligations, that it’s a matter of the whole family; that sharing the chores was an act of love, it’s also, a good learning experience.
After my premature grandchildren left the incubators, they’d been, staying with me, because it was especially tiring, the whole family chipped in, my husband was in charge of cleaning the house, doing the laundry as the day began, my daughter-in-law in charge of feeding and caring for the young, and I, in meal preparations, as well as the midnight shifts. Although it’d, become quite tiresome, but seeing my grandchildren growing up by the day, I’d, felt glad.
like this???
Or maybe, it was how my grandkids were raised in such a way, especially my grandson, he’d often run into the kitchen and asked me, “Grandma, what are you doing? I need your help.” Because I’d made dishes with eggs often, he’d become very interested in cracking the eggs for me. I’d not only turned down his offer to help me, I’d, taught him how to break the eggshells, and, as you could imagine, he’d, made a total mess, the eggs were cracked, all over the places, but I’d not scolded him, or taken over for him, instead, I’d, allowed him, to keep on, practicing cracking the eggs open. And now, he’d, made great improvements, and could use the chopsticks, to mix up the yolk and the whites in a bowl for me too.
As my developmentally-delayed granddaughter started to learn to walk at the age of three, after she could steady herself, she’d followed her younger brother into the kitchen, said she wanted to help me out too, and I’d, agreed, that they could, put in the chopped up chunks of daikon into the soup, or add in the salt for the soups.
Although my husband stayed on the sidelines and hollered loudly, “DANGER! DANGER, don’t let them do it!”, but I’d still, insisted on having them help me out, my grandson would bring that stool to the counters, stood on top of it, at a safe distance from the stoves, and, followed my orders, as he’d, finished up this, what-seemed-to-be-too-dangerous task.
or this???
Slowly, my grandchildren became more and more agile, they could feed the fish in the tanks on their own now, and vacuum up the mess they’d made on the floors, and would help fold up the dried clothes that I brought in from the outside, and, although they had yet to manage how to do it right, I was still, very grateful for their wanting to help me.
A few days ago, my grandson was in the toilet for a long time, I thought he was playing with the water, I entered into the bathrooms, about to grill him, and I saw him dabbed a little cleaning agent onto the loofa, carefully, scrubbing down the sinks, and, he’d, cleaned up all those dirty corners too, he’d watched his grandpa and dad and picked up on the behaviors.
I was so very moved, this child was only a little older than four, he’d clearly understood, that he’s, a part of this family, that he’d needed to, do his share of chores around the house.
And so, having your children do the household chores CAN be quite beneficial to the whole house, you wouldn’t have too much to handle, and, at the same time, you’d, trained your young children to have a strong sense of responsibility too.