Giving our Children Opportunities to Grow by Teaching Life's tasks

                              California American Mothers  

    

           Learned by Experience

                           by California American Mother Sharon

   I saw this meme on Facebook.  At first I thought, “That’s a good idea.  Every child should know how to sew, change a tire and the oil, do taxes, basic first aid, basic things that you need in real life. 

  But then I realized that children already have 

such a mandatory class.  It’s called home. That 

is where we learn about “life”.

   There are lessons about life that children at each

age need to learn.  They need to learn the skills of 

making their beds and putting away their toys.  

I remember seeing my granddaughters at ages two

and three climbing up on the bathroom counters to

wash out the sink.  Later children can learn to 

load the dishwasher, do laundry, and cook simple foods.  They can make doll

clothes to learn how to thread a needle and make a hem, and bird houses to

learn how to use a hammer and paint brush.  They can help with home repairs

so they can replace a washer on a dripping faucet and a slipped belt on a 

vacuum.    

   Teenagers can practice shopping wisely and budgeting their 
money. They need to know about interest and the difference between paying 

it and earning it. 

   They can sew on their own buttons and stitch a ripped seam.   All my boys

learned how to sew and cook, and my daughters can build a coffee table 

and replace a toilet ring.

   In college, I had a roommate who had been raised abroad where they 

always had a maid.  She was clueless about cooking and cleaning and felt

that she had a great disadvantage in living real life as an adult.

  As we look at the tasks we do
daily, it would be wise to
consider how we can teach the
skill needed for that task to our children.  When they need those skills as they live on their own, they will be grateful.