Dindin enjoys working and helping me. It seems that she gets a great deal of satisfaction or sense of accomplishment.
In our home, Dindin’s life is not all play. I teach her how to help and let her observe the value of work. She thinks that when I am on the computer I am working. So sometimes, she would also pretend to be typing on a keyboard and say, “I am working.”
Aside from that, I also expose her to different household chores like cooking, washing dishes, washing clothes, cleaning the room, and most of all, packing away her toys. The only difference maybe is that she thinks she is just probably playing. But we just encourage her and praise her for the things that she does, especially if she helps us.
In the photo above, you may notice that Dindin is holding a can. We are making wedding giveaways and I was tasked to stick the labels on the cans. Of course, since I don’t have a nanny, Dindin was with me. I told her that I was working on the giveaways. She wanted to help so I let her put the covers on the cans and then she was also in-charge with stacking them. She had so much fun! She is a happy worker, laughing as I would ask her to do something or if I pass the can to her.
Then I also specifically told her to take care of the cans. She took it as a grave responsibility and guarded the cans jealously. When her A-ma passed by to looked at one, Dindin said, “No A-ma, put it back!”
Teehee I am just glad that Dindin is already aware of work and responsibility. And it is better to assign something to her so that she will not keep on bugging me because she is kept busy.
I am a proponent of teaching kids to work as opposed to giving them everything and not allowing them to experience hard work like we did. I think that the work part has been ingrained in me. My parents were hard workers and that contributed to who I am. If I let Dindin skip on the work park, she might think that everything will be offered to her on a silver platter. Then she will realize later on in life that it is not the way things work.
As she grows older, I will be teaching Dindin to do more things. And it is going to be more fun!
