I Timothy 4:13-
Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
Paul gives Timothy very concise instructions in both verses 12 and 13. Timothy is left in no doubt as to what Paul wanted him to be about. We too need to give our children work. They will be working in different ways their whole lives and there is no reason to delay. Teach them the rewards that work brings and to do it well and thoroughly and you will have prepared them for so much of life.
Children love to help. My four year old son will follow me round the house, asking me, "Mommy, how can I help you?" And not only do I get help, he stays out of trouble. Often, children, especially boys, get into trouble for lack of something to do. to put it in kid terms, they are bored. As mothers, it is sometimes hard to find enough things for our children to do, and there are times when there just aren't enough things that they can do, especially when they are young. But sometimes we fall in to the trap that we do the job better so we don't allow our children to learn by helping. Show them how to do it, when they are ready and let them go. It may not be as neat as if we had done it, but the sense of accomplishment that they have from doing work will more than make up for the job that is not quite done to your standards.
Make sure that you tell them what you expect. There are few things more frustrating to both adults and children as a job description that is too vague or ambiguous. "I want you to wipe the bathroom counter. Make sure you clean up all the toothpaste. " Now the child knows what to clean and what you expect it to look like when he is done.
Children also love to know there is an end. Set a time and tell them we will all work for the next 10 minutes, then take a 10 min reading break. Or we will have snack once all the books are back on the shelves. Make sure they times and chores are reasonable and then work hard. You will be pleasantly surprised by just how much you can get done with a tiny crew.
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