Let's Put the Family to Work

I will be honest...I do not always like to work. I do not enjoy cleaning the house, I do not enjoy doing homework, I do not enjoy running errands. However, I know that I need to learn to enjoy doing at least some of these things because there is great value in work. I plan on teaching my future children this as well. With that being said, do your children groan about doing chores? Do you groan when you have to clean the house? It's time to "put your shoulder to the wheel...[and] do your duty with a heart full of song," ("Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel," LDS Hymn 252). Did you know that "housework is a...major source of contention between the sexes," (Hawkins, 213)? Let's put the family to work and create a home of peace and instill a sense of work ethic in the family.

We know from The Family: A Proclamation to the World that "successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of ...work."

Parents do not need a perfect system for doing chores. It can be chaotic and discouraging when children complain or quarrel with one another. Focus on the value of the work and not completing the work perfectly. If we focus on perfection then the work seems endless.

1. Parents should seek an approach based on "attentive love." This means that we discipline children when they do not do their chores and we reward them when they do.

2. All family members are vital to family work. Children can learn to take responsibility for family work and mothers set the household tone for family work. 

3. Family work becomes a joyful blessing when not seen as a burden. We must be happy when we are working so that the children can see that work can be fun.

Source: Hawkins, A. J. (20122012). Meanings and Blessings of Family Work. Successful marriages and families: proclamation principles and research perspectives (213-223). Provo, Utah: BYU Studies and School of Family Life, Brigham Young University.

As we teach our children the value of work and the importance of work in the family, our families will grow and prosper. We will be organized, unified, and happy. 

We will "organize [ourselves]; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God." ~D&C 88:119