Teaching Children to Work

Raising children and keeping house is a lot of work, and a lot of ladies are getting burned out because they are doing too much. They are struggling with the demands of running a household when they could be delegating a lot of it, and I don’t mean they should be delegating it to their husbands. If my wife asks me to do something like take out the trash, I tell her to have one of the kids do it. I didn’t sire nine children, so I could take out the trash or pick up after the family dog. I did my time shoveling dung and mowing the lawn. It’s not that I’m lazy. I just want to do other more important work. Not only that, but children need to get used to working.

A lot of people today look down on the idea of giving children household chores. They act like it is some terrible thing when older kids are expected to help care for their younger siblings. People think children should have a childhood of just playing, but what they don’t realize is that doing work actually makes people happy. Kids think that they would rather play all day while their parents wait on them hand and foot, but in the long run, learning to be productive will lead to a more satisfying life.

At first, we have to do everything for our children, but as they get older, they should be given some responsibilities. Even a toddler can be taught to start helping out with small tasks around the house. Yes, it’s easier to do things ourselves sometimes, but it is important that kids are learning how to work. In the beginning it’s harder, but in the long run, it will make your life easier. If your children are 10 and 12 years old, and you are still doing all of the laundry, dishes, and yardwork, I say to you what Jethro said to Moses in Exodus 18:

“The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.”

A household runs more smoothly when everyone does their part. Dad works a job to support the family, but Mom shouldn’t be wearing herself out by doing all of the housework herself. An older child with a younger sibling should be taught to get his little brother a drink of water or tie his shoes when needed instead of always expecting the parent to do every little thing.

It’s not that parents should sit around and do nothing, but we need to prioritize. There are certain things that only we as adults can do, and we ought to do those things and delegate the rest. Like Moses, a lot of us have a tendency to take too much on when we really could use a little help.

Here is a sermon on “Delegating Responsibility.”