I guess it has been quite sometime since I last wrote something here.  Eversince summer time had begun last March, I’ve been been a bit busy with my family.  The kids are home all day, so I decided to spend some time with them, teaching and training them to help with house chores.  We let our househelp take a vacation for a few months while I personally do the chores around the house, of course, together with my kids.  This is the second summer vacation we’re doing this.  It is tough, though.  We all know how kids hate housechores.  I did, when I was young!  We can’t help but hear whining and complaining every now and then about who’s to do this and who’s to do that.  But I realized that this is part of life.  I wish for them to grow up independent, no matter what or where they choose to be in the future.  I know eventually, when they grow up and start living on their own, somehow, they will be thankful for learning this in their life.  

When I was young, I despised doing housechores.  I always thought my parents were always punishing me for making me work around the house.  But as I grew up, I realized that I’m actually in a much better position than many people I know who may be very successful in their careers, but know nothing about home work.  They can’t live without help, and I find that so pathetic!  Imagine waking up in the morning alone and you can’t even fix yourself your own breakfast, simply because you never learned how to cook an egg… isn’t that so sad? 

I love what I’m doing…  I’m so bonded with the children.  We are so much closer to each other and I can actually see them day after day learning to be responsible not only for themselves, but for each other.   They have become self-sufficient.  If they’re hungry, they can immediately fix themselves something to eat.  I do laundry and they make sure their clothes that I  have washed are nicely folded in their closets.  They know what they ask me to wash and they make sure they have them all after they’ve been washed.  That’s being responsible and learning to value the things that they own.  We plan dinner all together everyday.  If I can’t decide what’s for dinner, they suggest what they like to have, my son buys the stuff that I might need,  my eldest daughter helps me fix dinner, and our 4-year old insists on setting the dining table every night.   Here are some snapshots I took of my kids doing their own things last 2007… 

my son cooks, my baby sets the dining table, and my eldest feeds her little sister! 

"The goal in raising children is not to protect them from pain or undesirable circumstances, but to equip them with what they need to be responsible, independent and resilient adults" 

-Lori Radun, CEC – certified life coach and inspirational speaker for moms. (http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Teaching_Children_Independence_and_Responsibility.html)