Parenting

The scenario: a haggard mother of four children aged 5 and under melts onto the couch in abject despair. Her world is crumbling and she cannot put it back together. With babe of 6 months in tow, she struggles to run along behind the three older ones, making beds, picking up toys, wiping tables and sticky hands and faces, monitoring squabbles, washing crayon off walls, getting kids dressed in exasperation when she sees that lunch is soon approaching, and so on and so on. Of course, in between all of this, she nurses and cuddles her newborn with growing resentment at her inability to relax and really enjoy this precious babe.

Now, don’t get me wrong. This mom loves her children, loves being at home with them, wanting nothing more than to be successful in this undertaking. But what is a woman to do? How can this possibly turn out okay?

As she turns her face to the back of the couch to hide from it all, she cries, freely confessing, “God, I can’t do this! I’m going to die! I’m failing, I’m ruining them, I can’t do this!”

Lovely confessions, eh? That woman was me, oh, so many years ago. And that very night my God sent help. It came in the form of a book.

Later that evening I walked into my friend’s room, a young educator who was living with us at the time, to find 401 Ways to Get Your Kids to Work At Home in the middle of her bed. “Hmmm. What’s this?” I was most definitely intrigued and sensed hope and help coming as soon as I perused its cover.

“What do you know? There just might be a way to manage all this after all. I just need to train my kids to work, to enjoy productivity, and to labor independently.”

Now, is this an easy task? No — but in my situation, an early death seemed like the only alternative. What I soon discovered was this: whether training your children is precipitated by your own need or an understanding of the scripture (better reason, by the way) all kids need to learn Godly principles of industry if you hope to prepare them for successful kingdom service and living. Adults who know how to work, who are resourceful and accomplished, responsible and trustworthy with tasks, are not only needed and wanted in today’s world, but are in desperate shortage. Your kids, if they have learned some vital principles of labor and industry, will shine amongst their peers. They will earn places of respect, be given positions of authority at a young age, and will become successful in all they do.

At another time we will do a study of scriptures that confirm this principle and its correlating blessing. For now, let me recommend the book 401 Ways… to you. Charts, practical ideas of making work accessible to little hands, and methods to add fun and zest to everyday chores will be discovered on its pages.

Happy training — may you find working with children by your side to be as delightful as I have discovered it to be!