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The First Home School

Blog: Living Well

February 3, 2010

Life's Lessons Begin at Home

Lucia was two last October. Already she helps feed the dogs and cats, puts things away in their proper places, and loves to help in the kitchen. She has helped bake and decorate cookies, and loves to add garnishes to dishes and to plates. She also likes to help feed the horses and chickens, gather eggs and do other chores. New interests are encouraged as she finds new areas to explore. Her eagerness, and her joy at helping and learning, will last long beyond these early years.

In most cultures, children are taught to take care of themselves, and to fill their places in their society. They learn this best by being taught by loving and caring families. I have often heard that a child learns more in its first five or six years than in any other time period of its life. The first teachers are the parents, and often the grandparents. These days a nanny or other child-care source might be the primary influence. If the children are lucky, these caregivers will do more than look after them; they will allow them to help in doing everyday chores, and will teach them how to carry on the daily tasks of living.

When I was six, my grandfather sat me on a one-legged milking stool, place my small hand around the teat of a patient cow, and taught me how to get milk from it. I was thrilled. I could do grown-up work! Later he showed me how to get a harness on a work horse. I was small and the horse was tall, but I learned to do it, with help, until I was tall enough to do it myself. What a sense of satisfaction. Other things I remember learning, but those stand out.

Children are eager to help. "Can I do that?" "Lem-me, lem-me do it, Mama”--or Daddy or Grandma and Grandpa. While letting them help takes patience and time, in the long run you have encouraged interests and perhaps have discovered talents which will long outlast the lessons. And the boost to their self-esteem is, if I may borrow from the MasterCard commercial, priceless.

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