Gurushala

Life & Well Being

The Importance of Involving Children in Household Work

Household chores are not the responsibility of only one member of a family. In any shared living space, the work of maintaining that space needs to be divided equally among all the members living in it. This is necessary to avoid all the workload and responsibility from falling on the shoulders of only one person. Each person living in a house has the duty to contribute to its maintenance. In most societies, this burden often falls on the women in the family, and most people don't recognize this as unfair since household chores are considered to be the responsibility of females. Our children become conscious of this mindset as they observe the women in their house handling all the chores alone with no help. Further, when young boys watch only their sisters being asked to contribute to household stores, they imbibe the perception that only girls are supposed to do domestic work. Therefore, it is important that our children learn that household chores need to be done by everyone in the family.

The most effective way of teaching children the importance of contributing to household chores is by assigning duties to every member of the family. In this way, our children will learn about shared labour and will not have any reservations about doing their part in finishing daily chores. Through this, our children will also learn about the benefits of teamwork and handling responsibility. Further, it would provide them with the knowledge of basic life skills such as cooking, cleaning, and helping others. In this way, our children will be prepared if they ever have to live on their own and will have the knowledge of how to maintain a house, hence according to them a sense of independence and control over their lives.

Involving children in household stores is also important to ensure that our kids don't grow into adults who have to burden someone or the other for the most basic things. It is also important because when the responsibility of doing all household chores falls on a single person, it exhausts them and hinders their ability to do anything else. To give every family member a fair chance at pursuing their interests and having free time, it's necessary that work in families be distributed equally.

Although children often make a mess while trying to help, it is necessary that as adults, we remain calm and not discourage our children from trying to help in the house by scolding them. Household chores also provide children with the opportunity to learn how to do things carefully, meticulously, and timely. These habits when learned through household chores can also be applied in other fields as children grow up.

To make children aware of the importance of household chores and the contribution of every family member in it, it is necessary that we seek their participation in it from their early childhood itself. When children grow up in families that nurture values of teamwork, unity, empathy, and commitment, the foundation for them to grow into an all-rounder the adult is laid.

About the author

Zainab Wahab is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Jamia Millia Islamia. She is an avid reader and an aspiring poet. Any views expressed are personal.

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