Child Endangerment on the Homestead
So this is something that I would like to get your input on.
On our homestead everyone has to chip in for our homestead to work. Every one has different jobs they have to do. The older you are the more complex and harder the job is.
For example my 17 year old and 16 year old daughters help their mother with washing the cloths. They may also be required to help me with cutting wood their job in that is to stack it up. Now with my two youngest coming in at 9 years old and 10 years old they have to go and feed and water the animals, and collect eggs when we have them. Then there is my 14 year old son his job is to go around and help me with what ever I am doing. Sounds like fun right? Well I don’t think he feels like that all the time. But one of his jobs that he does do is splitting wood. Now why would I have him splitting wood? Well because he said that he really likes it for some reason. I guess it’s like when people say that they just really enjoy cutting the grass. But any ways after that we all have to come together and pump water into 5 gallon jugs from the well. We will then use that water to water the animals again the next day.
The reason I am telling you all this is because we have done videos in the past on our Youtube channel. The videos showed our kids doing different chores that they are expected to do on a typical day. We have gotten all kinds of comments on our channel. We have had people tell us that we were bad parents because we made our children work. We have been told that kids should not work like that because they are kids. They should be playing because they have the rest of their adult life to work. My response to that was: well if you don’t train them to work for what they want in life, then what makes you think that they will want to work for it as an adult. I have even been told that having my 14 year old son work a splitting mal was child endangerment! We were told by that same person that 14 is way to young to operate such a dangerous tool. I think that as you can see 14 is old enough to work a hand held splitting mal.
But I want to know what you think. Is it a bad thing to have your children do daily chores? Also how old would you say is a good age to start having your children do chores?
He's fine and 'arm-chair parents' in the comments sections can buzz off. There is nothing wrong with physically demanding chores for any child which is age appropriate.
I wonder if those bossy 'perfect' parents would consider it abuse if their kid had to mow the lawn with a non-self-propelled mower. IF their kid even DOES the mowing in the first place. Just saying...
I want to help. I have become very weak. Please help and thank you
I don't reward lazy or greedy.
It sounds like you're setting them up for success. If they aren't used to do some kind of small chores to help out around the house, they're really going to struggle if/when they leave the homestead. I always have the kids help out a little around here. If they find something they really enjoy such as splitting wood and can do it safely that's awesome.
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Right on, I have seen how their kids are treated and its better then most people treat their kids, they are all well taken care of!
These same people will put some pads and a helmet on their child and send them onto a field to hit other children at full speed playing a game of football. Make no mistake, I love football, as well as most sports. But I don't think that these parents have a clue what they are talking about. They are the left coast thinking snowflakes we have to deal with today. Keep up the good work. You are setting your children up to be very responsible and successful adults. When SHTF, you and your children will be the ones these snowflakes pray they can find to find some kind of food or warmth because they have no idea how to grow anything or split wood.
We have been a working farm/homestead for at least 6 generations. We all learned how to work doing our share of chores according to age and ability. My routine when growing up was chores, breakfast, school work, after school more chores, supper and then home work. There were times set a side for fun too, but we never had the time nor the desire to get into trouble. We were tired but tired with a good feeling. My kids had the same bringing up. All are successful at what they do and have growing families of their own. Now it is the grandchildren learning to do chores. Everyone knows where their food comes from. We never complained and thought it was normal. It didn't hurt us one bit and we became responsible adults. Kids of all ages can be taught to do chores. Even a toddler can lear to pick up toys. You are never too young to learn resposiblity.
I think you are teaching them responsibility. If your son enjoys splitting then by all means allow him to do it. I take it you taught him safe use of all the tools so really there is no danger.
Chores are a must, in most cases people are awake 16 hours of their day, if the kids were doing chores for most of them then that would be an issue. An hour or two a day is not a lot of time for them to help contribute to the family's work load.
Being those ages, I would say they are old enough. My oldest is almost 9 and my youngest is 2, so finding chores for all the kids to do sometimes gets creative and helping is sometimes just a drop in the bucket, but they are learning that they need to help around the house. If your son likes to help in this way and he does a good job, I would think it would be fine! Some people think kids should only sit around and play video games all day long and have everything handed to them and not have to work for anything! The more skills a person has, the better prepared they will be for life in the real world.
Bro, ive seen you parent, you are fair with them. They are being raised to be able to take care of themselves. Most people aren't being given these skills. I have not seen any abuse, just good parenting!
Oh good grief! Child endangerment is NOT teaching them how to handle tools properly! You do your children a disservice if you don't teach them how to do daily tasks. It would explain why so many adults are leaving home and have no idea how to cook, wash or generally look after themselves. We now have a generation or two who have grown up on TV dinners and cooking to them means pressing buttons on a microwave!
Let me tell you, I raised my four homeschooled kids working on this farm. All of them, my three boys, and my daughter, are gainfully employed, and raising families of their own(my daughter just got married so they haven't got to the family having yet.).
The nature of boys is to provide, and work! They are happiest, and more focussed when contributing to family life! It is attitudes like that you mentioned above that is producing a useless generation.
My husband works in an environment where he is sometimes called upon to hire people. So does my son. They both have quite a time finding a decent employee! The laziness being churned out of the system is astonishing!
That same son started out working as a valet for a company servicing a local hospital. When he started working, he was given a handbook which said to run, back and forth to get, and park cars. Nobody else was running on that site. So he started running. Pretty soon everyone was running. Within six months he was site manager. Within a year he was regional manager. These days they are trying to talk him into moving to a major southern city, to move up even further in the company.
All my other children have the same drive, and determination. They have done nothing but move upward in their respective careers. Teaching your child to work pays them a LIFETIME of benefits!
I really enjoyed reading this. In my opinion, it is good to have your kids do chores. Obviously not all the time, as they need to be kids too. I didnt grow up on a farm or anything but I remember my sister and I were 7 and 8 when we started helping to haul and stack our firewood. We really enjoyed it honestly. Our whole family would go out and contribute so the work was done better and faster. I think you should keep on doing what your doing. your kids will appreciate what knowledge you passed on once they get older. I know I do!