Co Working at Home
There was a small crisis at home. Cleaning had to be done. We started the conversation about who will do what work. I had one plan in my mind. But waited before sharing it. My daughter had her ideas about picking the work, my son also chose what to do. I was not ok with the work they had chosen because it meant I would end up with loads of work. So I shared, “Sorry, that plan doesn't work for me”.
We started reconsidering the plan. My son came up with another idea. He said, "We will all take
different rooms and finish all the work we see in that room rather than dividing based only
on the work. This was a different way of working. We always made a list of work to do and everyone
picked 3 each. Just to give an example of a day: I would do washing vessels, putting
clothes in the washing machine and cleaning the bathroom. My daughter, Smriti would put the clothes to dry, sweep and feed the rats. My son, Skanda would cook food, mop and get some groceries from the shop. The next day the list would differ.
Today it was decided that Skanda would clean the living room, Smriti will clean the room and I would finish all the work in kitchen. So for the next 2 hours we played music and did our work. Of course
we had fights and arguments on who got more work, who got less, Smriti lost interest, was
feeling tired and she had hurt her hand so she requested for some help. We decided after we finish
our work we can support her. After a short break(some crying and whining) she again continued with
her work. We were all satisfied with the way the house looked, clean, fresh and bright.
I have heard many parents share that children don’t work at home or that they have to do all the work. What are our conclusions about who has to work? Who can do it? Who cannot do it? How well it has
to be done? Can the work be divided so the burden is shared? Can we believe that children are capable of doing quality work? Can we trust their abilities to be part of the different responsibilities?
Good ones. Kids especially are to be a part of house hold activities as this becomes a base course for them to handle & keep them organised in their future too.
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