Chapter 12: Child Labor

This chapter is about training your children to work and be helpful around the house.  And you can start at a very early age!  "When a child is old enough to take a toy out of the box, he is old enough to put it back."  Easier said than done of course, we're still working on it.  : )  Isn't it weird how we have no problem getting something out that we want but then we don't want to take the time and effort to put it away, even as adults?  Our 19 month old is pretty much trained to put his toys away, but I don't think he enjoys it very much.  : )  It takes him about 1 minute to get his toys out but 15 minutes to put them away.  The Pearl's daughter, Shalom Brand, wrote an article called "Team Player" in the NGJ magazine.  In it she suggested ways to get your toddler to be you little helper, which is what they enjoy doing anyway.  When I come home from the grocery store, our son would like to get into my bags and take the food out.  I used to tell him "no" and make him go in the other room, but now I hand him items that he can carry and let him put them away in the refrigerator.  He likes it and it makes him feel good about himself when we tell him he's a good boy for helping mommy put up the groceries.  It might seem like work now, but it will pay off later!