Does Your Child Help You Around the House?

Few are the children who, of their own accord, rise up gallantly and offer their domestic services to their mothers. More often than not, the mother takes all their affairs and the affairs of the house upon her shoulders alone, feeling that it is her duty and no one else's, and that she must bear its hardships with an open heart and a strong back! But if this mother only knew how many of these duties the child could take off her hands, she would take heart and spare herself many a backache!

The first step toward getting the child to share in his mother's housework is to ask for his help — by leading him to believe that the balance of the household work depends on this help, and by making him a partner in the work as a whole!

Once the desire to work has formed in the child, the mother should set about instructing him clearly in how to carry out the task assigned to him, then leave him and give him time enough to finish it, without haste or criticism or laughter on the part of the grown-ups. A word of praise and thanks, offered by the mother to her child, is the greatest spur and encouragement to persevere and to render small services until they become great ones! How proud the child is, and how important he feels, when he knows that he is a great helper to his mother and a lightener of her burdens! That feeling alone is enough to stir manliness in his blood, even at this early age!

Some may ask: and what are the duties that can be assigned to our children? Here the mother must take into account the child's age, his taste, and his personal capacity. It is well for her to sound him out on the matter, so that he has his own opinion about it and sets about the work with pleasure and eagerness! It is not well for the mother to impose her will on the child and insist to him that this help of his is a duty binding upon him, for such a compulsory method repels the child and may end by making him hate all such tasks in the future!

Layla, aged five, can dust the chairs and the tables and whatever her hand can reach, clean the ashtrays, tidy her room and her toys, and sweep the balcony and the outside stairs... And Ramzi, two years her senior, can be Mama's messenger to the shop next door and to the mailbox. He can arrange the magazines and books in the bookcase, arrange the flowers in the vases, and clear the dining table...

Trifling and simple as they are, these chores are often a cause of annoyance and exhaustion to the mother. Assigning them to the child trains him to bear responsibility and strengthens his confidence in himself and in his mother's need of him; and so his morale grows stronger and his personality grows stronger!

The mother would do well to vary the duties assigned to the child whenever she senses boredom in him as he performs them; in this way he is trained in all the household tasks without pressure from the mother's side... and in an atmosphere of appreciation and praise.

Children who have such an upbringing and such guidance become young people distinguished by their personal independence and their self-reliance, who shoulder responsibility willingly and do their duty eagerly and in the best possible way! And how badly we, in this country, need such young people!?