HOW TO:

WORK TOGETHER

"Family work provides endless opportunities to recognize...love and serve one another..." (Hawkins,213).

Why?

Working together as a family teaches responsibility, love, teamwork, patience, and charity. Housework used to be one of the main family projects; everyone had a room to clean or an assignment to fulfill. Today, those chores are mostly completed by mom and dad. Now, it is thought that it is cruel to make a child do chores; it takes away their childhood. I believe strongly that work is good for kids. I am not promoting child labor laws, but vacuuming the house, making beds, cleaning cars, mowing the lawn, etc. can be beneficial to your child's future. If we do not teach our kids how to work when they are little then when will they learn?

Working together as a family also builds relationships. I cannot tell you how many times my siblings and I cranked up the music and started cleaning the house. We sang, laughed, and talked the whole way through and learned how to work together. Many days, it was the last thing I wanted to do, but it had to be done. I learned that chores may not always be simple or enjoyable, but I also learned that the benefit of a clean house was worth the work.

Working together does not have to be miserable. Make it a game! We did competitions of who could get done first or see who could shoot the dirty clothes into the laundry basket. Eventually we got to the point where we would ask my dad if he needed help mowing the lawn or cleaning the basement. Why? Because we liked accomplishing something. Because we felt needed. Because we loved spending time with him!




What's In It For Me?

Children do not need an allowance or money for taking out the garbage or doing dishes; these chores are not optional! Chores around the house are done by those who live there. Not all things in life come with a money reward. We do them because we have to, so we can live in a clean house, and because it is our job as a family to help each other.











Working together is great because you are not only accomplishing something, but you are together. When you are together, you learn to use team work, patience, and how to create and maintain friendships.

Not Always The Easy Thing To Do 

Teaching kids how to cook, do dishes, or clean up after themselves is not an easy task, but it has to be done. The other day I asked my two year old to throw something in the garbage and put something in the sink. Her face LIT UP when she came back and told me that she did it all by herself. Giving kids work (no matter how small it may be) gives them confidence that they can complete things on their own. It is not easy having her help me bake cookies or do dishes because I can get it done faster if she doesn't help, but she loves it and I am teaching her that work is a valuable asset to possess.



Sometimes we have to remember that it is not the action that matters, but rather the principle or the lesson behind the action. Kids need to know that they are a part of the family and they are required to help. Work shows them that they are needed and essential in the family.


Final Thought

"Daily rituals of cooking, packing lunches, washing dishes, making beds, folding laundry, weeding gardens, sweeping floors, and countless other prosaic tasks are the invisible glue that can bind families together. Instead of asking how to make such work go away, parents should ask how to use it to increase love and joy in their families" (Hawkins,223).