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| LOC: Helping with the housework, New York, 1943. |
Many years ago, when my children were small, I was very ill. I had just given birth to my fifth child. The oldest was nine years old. I was being treated for cancer and couldn't do much. I had already taught my children to clean and do most of the housework.
One of my boys was four years old at that time. He was in charge of our living room. This was where all the children played. We had two large toy boxes in there. My son had to pick up all those toys and keep the room neat. Well, one day, he asked me why he had to always clean that room. . . He was such a cutie. . . So I said, "Well, if you don't want to clean, then teach your baby sister how to do it and then you'll never have to clean it again!"
His sister was 2 years old then. She was an adorable little wild girl. She LOVED her brother so much and was his very best friend. So my 4 year old sat there on the coffee table and told her what to do. He made the whole thing into this fun game for her. He would say things like, "run and get that bear... now throw it in the toy box...now grab that block and throw it in there too!" He had her racing around the room, laughing and working. She had that room clean in no time. I just stood in the doorway and watched.
When the room was all clean, that little boy crossed his arms over his chest and smiled proudly. He looked back and grinned at me. He never had to clean that room again.
Blessings
Mrs. White
From the Archives -
Making the best of what is available to cheer the family along - Homemade Birthday Dinner.
Thrifty Wisdom from the Old Days - To Earn and Not to Spend.
- To find out more about this blog, or Mrs. White, please visit our About page. -
Find cleaning inspiration and encouragement in Mrs. White's book, "Gracious House Keeping."
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"Gracious House Keeping: Advice, Encouragement, and Cleaning Help for the Christian Housewife."
Complete with Encouragement and Work Charts to cheer you along in your homemaking!
115 pages, paperback.
5 comments:
Wonderful! This is so cute, I can just see the action!
HAHA I love it! Now if only I could get my kids to do that...lol!
Dear Mrs. White,
I rejoice that you aren't ill with this cancer now.
Children may be young and yet be taught some task. This is amazing.
May you have a blessed day,
d
I LOVE it! My 20mo helps with several "chores" because he thinks it's a fun thing to do and not work at all! People are always amazed that I "got him to help" at such a young age. It isn't at all anything that *I* did; he wanted to help out so I taught him what to do.
This is so wonderful! I love this.
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