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Is there a way to...

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get your children to do slave labor/ house work with out having to ask a million times or want to kill them? How do you incopterate your kids in to cleaning your house, helping with dinner, doing yard work or what ever you are doing? What did your parents do to get you to do it?

Any and all suggestions are welcome. I'm trying to pick your brains, to get more child labor done at my house. Pleas help.

Comments

HW said…
No, you do have to ask a million times. Be consistent and insistent. Unless you're not really going to follow through on having them do it. At our house there is STILL a lot of complaining, but they are learning that we are going to have them help anyway. The main family things we have them help with are bathrooms and yard work on Saturdays, and dishes for any meal they eat. They do get better the longer you keep at it, but it is surprising how very long it takes.
December 6, 2011 at 12:37 PM
kj said…
If I end up cleaning my kids' toys up all by myself they become mine to take away or throw away as I see fit. When my kids hear me cleaning up and saying, "I'll just do this all by myself," they come. RUNNING.

We're still working on the whining with Ivy. Let me know if you find out what works.
December 9, 2011 at 8:14 AM
Paige said…
I've thought about this question for a long time. (Maybe too long.) I had a big change in my thinking after reading an article in BYU magazine.

Here's a long quote from the article by Kathleen Slaugh Bahr and Cheri A. Loveless:
People who see the value of family work only in terms of the economic value of processes that yield measurable products--washed dishes, baked bread, swept floors, clothed children--miss what some call the "invisible household production" that occurs at the same time, but which is, in fact, more important to family-building and character development than the economic products. Here lies the real power of family work--its potential to transform lives, to forge strong families, to build strong communities. It is the power to quietly, effectively urge hearts and minds toward a oneness known only in Zion.

The link is here: http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=151
December 15, 2011 at 8:55 PM
Paige said…
There's an article in BYU magazine which changed my perspective. http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=151

Really. It was such an improvement to my attitude that I was a better "coach" and "team player" and "cheerleader" after chewing on these thoughts.
December 15, 2011 at 8:57 PM
Paige said…
http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=151

This article helps. (For the record: this is the THIRD time I've tried to post about the article. If it doesn't work this time, I'll just e-mail you.)
December 15, 2011 at 8:58 PM
Paige said…
I couldn't comment last night although I tried three times. Plus, I've been thinking of a good answer for this for many days. I ended up e-mailing you something.

Love ya!
December 16, 2011 at 9:57 AM
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