Responsibility begins at home

By Kristen Pind

Lately, there has been a lot of discussion around my house about responsibility. We talk about who is responsible for whom, whose job it is to do certain chores and who's "in charge."

I believe it is important for a child to have responsibilities. I think it fosters a good work ethic for when they get older. If you give children jobs at a young age, it helps them feel like a contributing member of your household, which in turn helps them take better care of their things and your things. It can also turn them into a contributing member of society.

That doesn't mean responsibility is easy. Our 6-year-old Cooper knows his job is to bring in the mail every day, pick up after himself, put his own clothes away and to sweep the kitchen floor on Thursdays. He still cries every Thursday about how that's "not fair," and every Saturday he complains that his sister isn't doing her job of bringing in the newspaper, even though there isn't one to bring in.

But through the tears and fits I can see him growing. He takes great care in sweeping the floor and runs to me with a huge grin when he is done to show me his work. I see his enthusiasm to help showing up at school. His teacher has noted many times this year that he is her best helper, always ready to do any job, and with a smile.

It may not seem like much at the age of 6, but I imagine him eventually doing so much more. I'd like to think of him taking the lessons he has learned at home and going out into the world and using that work ethic to make something of himself.

It's not always easy now, but I'm banking that, like me, he will thank his mom when he is 20 and knows how to do laundry, clean his apartment and balance a check book. I have a long way to go, but I'm willing to listen to all the whining in the world as long as he can wash his own underwear one day.