Put Your Kid To Work Day!

[Annie]

Great idea, much better for the kid:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/blog/home/2703931.html

APRIL 27, 2006
Posted 0 days and 6 hours ago on April 27, 2006
Put Your Kids to Work Day
Today is Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. According to the Ms. Foundation, the goal of this annual program (which began as Take Your Daughter To Work Day and expanded to include boys in 2003) is to help children “discover the power and possibilities associated with a balanced work and family life…”

OK, great. But here at Popular Mechanics, we think there’s something parents can do every day that will help their kids a lot more than parking them in the office conference room once a year: Instead of taking our kids to work, how about putting them to work?

Though it is fashionable to worry that American children are “overscheduled,” the fact is that many of today’s youth are being raised in a world of unprecedented comfort. Never before has so little been expected of so many. A 2001 Time/CNN poll, found that 75 percent of American adults believe children today do fewer chores than did the children of 10 or 15 years earlier. And 68 percent of parents think their own children are either “somewhat” or “very” spoiled. Got that? More than two thirds of Americans think their own children are spoiled.

Well, there is a solution. Instead of hovering protectively over our kids--“helicoptering” is the term for this modern style of parenting--why not teach them to take care of themselves: See that sock on the floor? It goes in the washing machine--like this. Next time you need clean socks, you’ll know what to do.

As a parent of three teenage boys, I know full well that it’s sometimes easier to do the work yourself than to get your kids to do chores. But it’s worth the effort. My kids mow the lawn, do kitchen chores, vacuum the house and wash their own clothes. This is nothing to brag about in my view--these simple tasks are just the routine business of life--but I’m amazed how many middle-class families don’t expect even this minimal level of cooperation from their children.

Obviously, learning to pull their own weight helps kids develop independence and a sense of responsibility. But there’s something else. Modern life involves a whole host of skills that are best learned young. Popular Mechanic’s Home Editor Roy Berendsohn likes to tell of how he was introduced to the mysteries of plumbing and wiring as a young boy, “holding the flashlight over my dad’s shoulder while he worked on stuff.”

How many kids today are that lucky? It seems to me that basic competence in life ought to include knowing things like how to change a tire, paint a room, cook a meal, mix concrete, and build simple items out of wood. And the best way to learn these things is working side-by-side with a parent. Those are some of my best memories of childhood (even if I complained at the time). And, today, some of my proudest possessions are the tools my dad and I used, and which he has passed on to me.

So take your kids to work, by all means. But, then, when you get home, don’t forget to put them to work. They will probably get a lot more out of it. --Jim Meigs