Big Helper

I never appreciated the idea of "chores" until recently. I used to think chores were the worst thing ever. From my childhood perspective, I thought life was about playing and having fun, but now and then I had to clean my room or cut the grass. Chores were the black speck on an otherwise carefree lifestyle.

Now, as a parent, I see them in a different light. I work at least 40 hours a week and have a house and two cars to take care of. There's grass to cut and brush to clear; bills to pay and budgets to manage. It seems the wife is always doing a load or two of laundry, vacuuming, dusting, wiping, scrubbing, sweeping, mopping or grocery shopping; all of this while we're trying to raise a 16 month old.

How, then, has my perspective changed? Chores are still a black speck, but now we get to pass them on when we don't feel like doing them ourselves. "Chores" are a way to hand down some of our responsibilities, meanwhile building the character of our young'ns.

For now she likes being a big helper, but when she starts complaining, we get to pull the old, "you're part of this family and you have to help out" routine. Eventually, chores can be a punishment (not that our little angel will ever do anything bad...); I've got a basement crawlspace that needs excavated, trees that need pruning, weeds that need pulled - the possibilities are endless.