When I read The Little House books, family work makes sense. Although a large percent of the Ingalls family’s time is devoted to providing the bare necessities of food, clothing, and shelter, each member of the family is needed, valued, included. Oh, how times have changed! Although I would never choose to be in a situation where starvation is a bleak reality, having to work for survival has its pros.
At it’s core, today’s work in its essence is still composed of providing for the necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. I once added up all of the hours it would take if I were to do all of the jobs myself, without any help from other family members. We had a household of nine at the time, and a large yard and home. To keep things as I wanted them kept would have required my sole effort for over eight hours a day. My effort couldn’t be replaced one-to-one by a child’s, but if each family member contributed an hour of their time a day, my time commitment was sustainable.
Working side-by-side with younger children provides an opportunity to teach them as we go along. Giving older children individual roles gives them the chance to be responsible. Tiered learning is an important learning approach, and a gradual increase in responsibilities sets families up for success. Occasionally, we may overestimate our children’s abilities in proportion to the task, but home should be a safe place to experience overwhelm and this gives both parent and child a chance to learn patience and resilience.
I have so many thoughts on the value of work, it’s hard to sum up. But the greatest lesson I’ve learned about family work is that it’s an invaluable primer for learning. When families work together, it can often end in frustration. But the unity that comes from a shared purpose and each member seeing the collective value of their individual efforts is worth working towards. The fruits I see are that children are more receptive to learning, have a greater attention span and a greater desire to learn. The modern English word for school is derived from the Greek and Latin words for leisure. When work precedes learning it more closely resembles spare time, the natural reward of having worked.
When we’ve spent the time to ensure we have good food, clean clothes, and a tidy home, I’ve seen that I am able to relax into the joy of learning. I see my kids do the same. It pays out later in the day when we’re joyously exploring a favorite topic and suddenly someone declares that it’s lunchtime. Having consistent plans in place helps us feel that we are safe to learn and explore. When the time comes to eat, our bodies will be fueled as our minds digest and internalize the truths we’ve exposed them to. Our learning is magnified by the work we’ve done to allow ourselves recreation to learn.