An engagement :)
An engagement :)
Malathy Krishnan, (Coordinator, Brindavan Jayanagar)
This is a recommendation that we oft give to our parents – engage your child to do household chores.
Every parent is aware of the amount of work that needs to be done, to keep the house running like a well-oiled machine. How can children contribute to this? There are a multitude of tasks that children can be engaged to do, that builds many of their skills and also knowledge which they can relate to their academics. It certainly is nice to think this way, isn’t it?
Well, when it comes to implementing this, there are many questions / thoughts that occur in the mind. Here are some of them
- Will my child be able do household chores?
- My child already has difficulties, this would only add to it. I feel like a ‘bad’ mother if I do this.
- Anyway they may need to do this when they get older, let them focus on academics now.
- I have enough people at home to help with all the work, let my child enjoy life doing what she / he wants.
The list can go on.
If as a parent we entertain any of these thoughts, we would then need to put our thinking caps on. As a parent, each one of us have a responsibility to our child to
- Build skills that will help them in their physical and mental well-being
- Make them as self-sustaining as possible as they grow older
- Help partner with others at home for easy running of the household
- Gain extended knowledge on different concepts
This list can also go on .
Tasks which the children can do and what they learn, through these tasks:
- Put the wet clothes for drying, on the clothesline – builds fine motor skills and you could teach them the concept of evaporation
- Let them mop the floor with the fan on – builds gross and fine motor skills; and you could teach them the concept of adjectives and degree of adjectives (small or big room, clean or dirty floor; clean cleaner, dirty dirtier, big bigger, small smaller); and also teach them how the fan helps in evaporation
- Chopping of vegetables – builds fine motor skills and you could teach them shapes, nutrients each vegetable contains and how each group of nutrients help
- Going to the shop to buy groceries – helps teach money concept, shopping within the budget given, social skills when interacting with people in the shop
- Accompanying parents to buy clothes for themselves – decision making (help them by giving two to three choices and how they think it looks on them), knowledge of the different textures and how it feels on them
This one also could go on..
Invoke the creative ‘you’ and engage your child in whatever tasks that could be done at home.. have fun watching them do or doing with them. Enjoy your ‘together times’ and cherish the memories 🙂
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