More on Chores

"Work is nature's physician, it is essential to human health and happiness." - Galen

Mel Levine talks about the family's responsibility to instill a work ethic in their children. When asked what parents can do, he responds:

Schools are responsible for teaching kids how to learn, and parents are responsible for teaching kids how to work. You build up your work capacity, work rhythms, work ethic at home and not in school. There has to be a very clear assignment that society gives families, the job of making your kid into a worker. That means we have to revise the role of parent as taskmaster rather than recreational coordinator. And parents, from an early age, have to be building working capacity. They have to organize an office for a child, set up certain times of the day that are for brainwork and keep kids in cognitive shape. They have to be communicating that a big chunk of life isn't fun and say that we are terribly sorry about that but everything isn't entertainment. It's a bit of an old American ethic but it needs to be revived and celebrated.

To read more, check out the chapter on "outputs inputs" in Levine's book on The Myth of Laziness.

The topic of chores is discussed by others in the educational field. In his book titled, The Motivation Breakthrough, 6 Secrets to Turning on the Tuned-Out Child, Rick Lavoie discusses how work habits established at home carry over into the classroom and eventually in the work place. Read the chapter on Household Chores and Work Ethic. You can buy this book here or read it free online here.

Carve out some time for chores in your child's life.

occupational therapy connection: skills for the job of living - work