The word for the week is TASKS. Like chores. Work. Doing your part.
I believe that the family is the arena for learning to do tasks. It's a toddler picking up his toys. It's a first grader hanging up her clothes at the end of the day. It's the 11th grader cleaning out the car. It's mowing, dusting, doing dishes, painting a room. Family and Tasks just go together.
But what if your spouse or your child won't do their job? How do we motivate them? Is it fair to pay? Is it wise to nag? And really, what is the benefit of doing tasks anyway? Does picking up the dirty socks today have any bearing on the kind of mother your little girl will be 30 years from now?
And should we enforce the Bible passage in our home: "Those who do not work will not eat"?
Think about it all and give us your thoughts. Many will be coming to this blog in the next few days, and your words will speak to them. Some of the comments will be included next weekend in the message.
You guys are awesome, and I look forward to reading what you have to write. I read Family Blog every day.
Dale Travis
This is a blog especially for the members of Family Life Church in Amarillo, Texas, but we welcome postings and comments from anyone who believes the Bible and wants to see the Lord honored in the family of today.
I motivate my daughter with a special treat at the end of the week if she helps mom around the apartment. I keep the treats simple, a trip to the library, park or sometimes a trip to the ice cream or snow cone store. It's working =) But I remind her that when she gets older, she's not always rewarded for her chores.
ReplyDeleteI'm not against rewards, but I have tried to teach my three children that chores are a way of life. It is the way we contribute to the household. It is a life lesson that can get lost in the giving of rewards all the time. I believe by rewarding them for every little thing they do, it conditions them to think that they have to be rewarded to do ANYTHING... a "what will you give me for it" kind of attitude. I want my children to understand that this is something they must muster the motivation to do because there will be many things in life that they will HAVE to do that they will not WANT to do.
ReplyDeleteThis is a different topic here. The others have been pretty easy for me to chime in on because it's been smooth-sailing for us. But I must say that I have most every area of our home pretty well managed... except assigning chores. I pretty much am of the mindset that "If I want it done right and thoroughly, I might as well just do it myself" type. Don't get me wrong. My kids' rooms are spotless, and they do them on their own without being told. It's the carrying out the trash, feeding the dogs, cleaning up after the dogs, helping clean up after dinner, cleaning up the bathroom that they share... those are the things that I need help with here.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing and hearing answers!
I completely agree with Debbie, her response is actually something that we fell into not to long ago. Although when we ran into that what will i get attitude it was about behavior in restaurants, grocery stores what have you. We quickly put a stop to that and explained to them that it does not work that way. However chores and helping me out now...I stay home with the kids and have recently discovered that there is quite a bit that a 3,5 and 8 year old can do to help. Dishes, laundry, putting up laundry, taking trash cans and picking up different rooms. They for the most part have figured out that this is expected of them now but they definately give me grief for it. When they do that i attempt to explain to them that there are plenty of things in life that we wont want to do but will have to and that there is just too much in this house for one person to manage and everyone has to do their part. All that being said does it work, did their attitudes change...No...I need to figure out how to get through to them about how important it is we help each other. I also dont necessarily think that picking up dirty socks will affect the kind of mother my daughters will be but i do think that picking up the dirty socks will assist in the teaching of responsibility and in the matter of maintaining and respecting the things that they worked hard for. Hope this helps someone and at the very least hope someone can help us to!! thanks debbie for the amazing comment!!!
ReplyDelete---Denicia & Jeff
I agree that rewarding your children to do their chores and help around the house is a great thing. God rewards us for doing our shall we say "chores".
ReplyDeleteChores in the house are not to fall soley on one person but rather the entire family to keep up with.