The Blessing of Work

Pure Hearts, by Liv Carson, from Lovely Whatevers

Getting house work done in a timely manner can be quite a challenge with small children underfoot, but it can be managed. Just incorporate the children into the tasks and elongate the time it will take to do them.

Children love activity, and to them, tagging along with their mother is like play time. They actually do not know that shucking corn or pulling up weeds is work. They love organization and they are happier when their mother is busy. Of course the mother has to have the instinct to know when it makes more sense to sit and hold her child or to pay total attention to him.

Take the playpen into rooms you are working in and have the other children entertain the baby, peeking over the bed and sharing toys, playing peek-a-boo, and laughing. Older children can be told, "I'm cleaning house today, so bring your favorite toy or book and come along." Some of them can help, and others can be quiet and wait, others can be busy with a project of their own. Keeping them in the room where you are working, helps you get the job done without running back and forth to supervise the children or rescue them from some trouble.

All children, even a toddler, can help in house work, and it is very good for them. It is actually not good for children to grow up in a home where they are served constantly and where everything is focused on their comfort and their happiness. In helping with the housework, whether they are drying the plastic plates or putting away the spoons, they are being taught to work for the good of others, and not just themselves. By the time a mother has raised several children, she needs to be a supervisor, and let the children do the work.

Mothers have to delight in their work in order to give the children a healthy concept of work. God gave us work so that we would be happy, and the Bible says that in all labor, there is profit. The results of labor is sometimes the only reward we need, as we see the house looking better and the children appreciating it more. So, when working, it isn't too smart to act like a martyr, moaning and groaning and complaining. If you want children to love work, you have to at least act like you enjoy it and find something good about it. They will usually grow up having the same attitudes as the parents. Discussing the importance of work while employing your children, will give them family "sayings" to remember, when they are grown, sayings that will be quotes to live by, precious to them.

Helen Keller:
I long to accomplish a great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.

John W. Gardner:
The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity, and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because philosophy is an exalted activity, will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.

Pearl S. Buck:
The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.

Rudyard Kipling:
Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made By singing: -- "Oh, how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade.