Читать книгу Raising Able - Susan Tordella - Страница 29

Many children of the Millennial generation have been raised with a sense of entitlement. Millennials are also called Gen Y and the Baby Boom Echo. They were born after 1980 and have grown up with the Internet.

Some Millennials are surrounded by people who wait on and intervene to protect them from failure and conflict, including parents, day care providers, nannies, housekeepers, cleaners, teachers, gardeners, drivers, cooks, coaches, tutors and more.

Families caught up in activity-mania have scant time to work together at home or to value such time. Childhood chores and a family-centered life have fallen to the wayside, replaced with a frenetic lifestyle centered on two careers, affluenza and competitive activity-mania.

Chores are a powerful tool to develop resilient and responsible young people from age 2 to 22. Chores provide children with built-in autonomy. When adolescents have to choose between healthy and dangerous behaviors, they rely on a strong sense of self that is established during the first dozen years.

Childhood chores install the rudder and self-discipline to say “no” to peers who propose dangerous behavior.

Most children will never ask for chores, so it’s up to parents to institute a chore system, which has deep roots in our culture. Adding chores to your family routine is not intended to add stress to the over-stressed modern family. A chore routine is intended to reduce stress by sharing the workload and prioritizing what’s important to a family.

Slowing down enough to sweep a floor, make a salad for dinner or mow the lawn is good for the heart and soul of self and family.

Beware if you view chores as just “one more thing” to insure your children have the best competitive advantages in life. Simple acts of labor related to our daily survival have meaning beyond the surface.

Millennials are growing up in an environment where they are removed from performing essential daily life tasks, and from the earth that provides food and our home. Slowing down and working as a family is a long-term investment in your family.