(Chapter 21)
Often times we have much to do around the house. There is always work to be done. Sometimes it can be overwhelming and sometimes it can just be annoying. We don't always want to work and do chores, but something I love about you guys is how you are always willing to participate in our family work. AND most of the time, it is with a joyful attitude. Never do you question why we have chores or why we must do work, but I'd like to share some quotes about family work to help you understand what we are experiencing as a family with high hopes that you teach this same work ethic to your children in your future families.
" Family work provides endless opportunities to recognize and fill others’ needs. It thus teaches us to love and serve one another, inviting us to be like Jesus Christ" (Hawkins, Dollahite, & Draper, 2011).
"When family members work together in the right spirit, a foundation of caring and commitment grows out of their shared experience. The most ordinary tasks, like fixing meals or doing laundry, hold great potential for connecting us to those we serve and with whom we serve" (Hawkins, Dollahite, & Draper, 2011).
"The daily work of feeding, clothing, and sheltering others has the power to transform us spiritually as we transform others physically" (Hawkins, Dollahite, & Draper, 2011).
"Family work is a lifelong opportunity, essential to the process of becoming like our heavenly parents" (Hawkins, Dollahite, & Draper, 2011).
What WONDERFUL blessings come from family work. However, I will say this. Teaching young children to work can be very difficult. Often times it would have been easier to just do all the work myself while you guys were off playing. But I knew as your mother I needed you to learn the value of not only working, but working TOGETHER as a FAMILY.
To help you stay strong in your efforts of teaching family work, I'd like to share some tips I read in an article called Family Work by Kathleen Bahr and Cheri Loveless.
1. Tilling the Soil: We must learn work together.
This provides opportunities for us to learn lessons of life as well as provide
opportunities for bonding experiences.
2. Exemplifying the Attitudes we want our children
to have: Not only must we learn to work, we must learn to like to work. If we display a bad attitude about working, our children will pick up on this and
have the same attitude. We need to teach them that work can be enjoyed.
3. Refusing technology that interferes with
togetherness: There are so many things out there that can do the work for us,
but by taking advantage of every machine we are missing out on opportunities to
work together. Making a home cooked meal vs. heating up a premade dinner takes
more time. If the family is cooking together, this provides time for families to
bond and serve each other.
4. Insisting gently that children can help: Most of
the time the work is done easier when you don’t involve a child, but if I, as
the mom, do everything how will my children learn? Also, when I am teaching
them this provides another opportunity of bonding together. It is important for
children to help with family chores as well as their own. When they do family
chores, they are learning the skill of serving others.
5. Avoiding a Business mentality at home: When
teaching our children to work together allow opportunities for play. It doesn’t
have to be so rigid that no fun can be had.
6. Work side by Side with your children: Working
side by side with each other provides time to be together, to have
conversations, to laugh, to play. So much can happen when our children are
folding laundry with us or making dinner with us. If we simply give them the
chores to do and leave, we are missing out on that time with our children.
When the times get tough and it will get tough, I promise if you stick to it and continue to teach your children, it will all pay off in the end in bringing your family closer together by working together. Thank you for all your efforts in working in our home. It is because of our organized efforts of working together as a family that our house is a "house of a prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God" D&C 109:8. I couldn't have done any of it without our joint efforts as a family.
Love,
Mamma
Bahr, K.S., & Loveless, C.A. (2000). Family Work. BYU Magazine.
Hawkins, A.J., Dollahite, D.C., & Draper, T.W. (2011). Successful Marriages and Families: Proclamation Principles and Research Perspectives. Utah: Brigham Young University.
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