Chores

“Genius is one-percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

Thomas Edison

When I find myself drowning in the deep sea of household chores, I marvel at the fact that, in the fourth grade, I envied my best friend Nadine because she had chores.  In my eyes, Nadine’s chores gave her a status of import; it was as though her family couldn’t survive without her contributions to the running of the household.

When I was growing up, we didn’t have chores.  I looked after my siblings, (who were five and seven years my junior,) but there were no regular jobs that were designated to me.  I’ll have to confer with my mom, but I seem to remember her saying that her kids would be doing enough housework in later years, so she decided to spare us.  And I love her for that.  I had an amazing childhood, and I was taught about responsibility through caring for my brother and sister.  I can’t cook and I don’t know how to get sap out of clothes, but I’m good with kids.

I like my brother-in-law’s philosophy that was handed down to him by his parents.  He said that his mom and dad told him that his first job was school, but he definitely learned the value of hard work as a boy.  So did my husband.  I believe that he was born in the wrong era though.  You see, I married Charles Ingalls, and our backyard reminds people of Little House on the Prairie.  We have a wood shed, a workshop, a rain barrel and a compost.  Big Daddy-O would look right at home pulling into our yard with a horse-drawn wagon.  He loves working outdoors, and when he’s in that element, he’s the hardest worker I’ve ever encountered.

Needless to say, he believes in giving children chores, and I’m with him.  Especially when I see how much Pip LOVES working alongside us.

Here are just a few of the jobs she was given this past week:

Rolling out the pizza dough,

Folding laundry,

and her favourite…stacking kindling with her dad.  This is all I saw of Pip when I first went outside:

Pip was improvising with my gardening gloves,

and making them work for her!

But we quickly changed to winter gloves that fit her hands better.  Has anyone out there seen kids’ work gloves?

It looks like Pip might take after her dad.

They were both grinning the entire time.

Chores aren’t just about teaching responsibility.  Kids learn skills, they feel a sense of purpose and accomplishment, and oftentimes, they get to spend quality-time with mom or dad.  What could be better than that?