Meaning and Blessing of Family Work

     I remember as a child,  being dragged into projects that my parents had going on around the house. I, of course, would whine and say that I didn't want to help and why I had to. But in the end, I always learned something and now I use everything that my parents have taught me. I have cherished each of the memories that I have with both of my parents and the priceless lessons they taught me.


                             

     Now I understand that many people didn't have the opportunity to learn things from their parents and I feel sorry for them. The fact that their parents didn't give them an opportunity to learn something new and use it later on in their life. I work in maintenance right now and we receive maintenance requests and I'm sorry, but the fact that there are people who don't know how to plunge a toilet infuriates me to no end. The fact that they have no knowledge of how things work or what to do when things stop working makes me realize that future generations have no chance of knowing what they're doing unless they take it upon themselves to teach themselves.

     Knowing some of the technical things that I do in order to help those around me gives me a sense of pride, knowing that I will be able to provide for my family if the need arises. Back in the "old days" prosaic work (meaning commonplace work) was the norm for many people and they looked forward to spending time with family members and learning new things. With the rise of technology, the amount of time that families spend together has shrunk immensely. This has led to dysfunctional families and a rise of children acting out.

     Now a family does not need to have a perfect system for chores, for example, my parents tried charts and marking off what we did every week. When that didn't work out they would just remind us of when things needed to get done, such as mowing the lawn and they tried allowances but I guess us living under their roof was payment enough. When I didn't know how to figure something out, my parents were always there to guide me step by step and make sure that I understand what I was doing.

     I understand that this will not work for every family, but work to see what works for your family and continue to improve upon it. Just make sure that your children see work around the house or chores as something that will bless them later on in life. And when they come to you saying that you were right, then you can tell them "I told you so".