There are a number of life skills that a child can only ever learn if he does them himself. Think back to when your baby did not know how to walk, he tried to balance himself but fell on his bum more often than not. Did you tell him at that point of time that he did not need to walk, that lifting him and taking him from one room to the other was easier for you?
No you did not, because making mistakes and practising a skill is how every human being learns. So why not prepare them better for the future by making them do the chores that they will need to routinely perform to live properly?
Gender Equality
Just because the chores were segregated according to gender in your childhood, there is no need to repeat the pattern. Make your boys help in the kitchen, teach them to sew their own buttons and fold the laundry. It is just as important to teach your girls how to change an electrical bulb, fix the fuse and handle repairs of a flat tyre. Don’t stereotype the chores that your homeschool students are asked to handle based on their gender.
Equal Opportunity Teacher
Make sure that all your children can handle all the chores. Then routinely switch them around so that no one dies of monotony. One good way to make sure that there are no arguments about who gets to do what chore each week is to have the homeschool students design the weekly chore duty chart one kid at a time. So everyone gets a chance to do what they want and put siblings on something they dislike. You may have to oversee and approve of the list to ensure things stay fair.
Recognition is Important
There is a lot of power in recognition. The motivation that comes from being the focus of parental appreciation is truly strong. Even if it goes against the grain, appreciate every chore that has been completed, especially when it has not been done perfectly, but you know that your child has given it his best. Trust the fact that practice does make perfect and eventually they will get better at doing every task they are given.
