Sometimes I think I am too harsh on my children but Jeff, who serves as the logical voice in my head when I am an emotional wreck, often reminds the reasons why we teach our children cooking, sweeping, swimming even when we have Ate Joy and Ingrid to do these jobs.
Jeff and I outlined the reasons why we teach Nicholas, Antoinette and Jeff Junior how to cook, sweep and swim:
1. Teaches them how to live
Cooking, sweeping, swimming… these are life skills. Sure a three-year-old can’t do the job efficiently (yet) but that’s beside the point. We teach them to cook, sweep and swim among othees because we saw the need to teach them how to live and not just rely on the people around them. If you ask Jeff why we do this, he’ll tell you: “Any person who learned life skills can survive the zombie apocalypse.”
2. Gets them moving
We have three-year-old twins and a one-year-old cutie pie. If it were just for convenience, we could just take out the laptop, play Disney movies from sunrise to sunset and not a single toddler would flinch. But not in Casa Ruffolo. We don’t have TV. We only allow one hour screen time every day over the holidays. As school gets back today, we’re back to Saturday as the “movie day”.
Watch the video here.
3. Teaches them teamwork
A basic rule we follow at home is to clean up after yourself. It’s rather hard to follow especially when you have househelp (Ate Joy stays with us while Ingrid come over on Mondays and Fridays). But for the children, it’s a must to work: to place all their toys in the red bucket after they play or put back their books on the shelf after they “read”. It teaches them teamwork and working together to get the job done fast and easy.
4. Learns the value of independence
It’s not a lesson they realize now. Perhaps they will get this when they’re 20 or 30 but as individuals who were raised by people who taught us that cooking food and washing dishes are essential life skills, Jeff and I know that these tasks lead our children to the road of independence. Jeff won’t always be around to cook their breakfast. I won’t always be around to bake cookies and Ate Joy will someday leave the family (although the thought of her leaving in the distant future is making me teary-eyed) and won’t be around to sweep the floor. Nicholas, Antoinette, and Jeff Junior can stand on their own even without us.
5. Makes older siblings responsible
Last year, we learned how much Jeff Junior idolized the twins. He mimics almost everything they do. His language development is developing really fast because of his older siblings. When Nicholas sweeps the floor, JJ follows him. When Antoinette arranges the chairs, JJ does the same. And the twins love it!
