Saturday, November 14, 2009

work day


my children slept in today, those who do. it is saturday and i think everyone should be entitled to an extra hour of sleep on a saturday. i can remember my dad marching through the house on a saturday morning, flinging open bedroom doors with the loud refrain "get up, it's a work day."

of course this was met with moans and groans. i have to say though that these work days are some of my best memories. i remember, having recently moved to the country, cleaning out the barn and clearing the lot. a lot of hard work but also a lot of family fun. i used to climb onto the tractor and shred the pasture, for me this was a prime chore as my imagination would have the time to dream as the tall grass fell behind us. i recall saturdays painting the house, and washing the windows with vinegar and newspaper.

my children i fear live a charmed life of endless computer games and very few chores. today is a work day. a thing they are not used to and something that to them is akin to child abuse. this announcement is met with me being told that no one else's mother makes them work. their ayi makes their bed for them. i am undeterred. some day maybe they will have fond memories of working as a family toward a common goal. striving to contribute to the group, valuing a job well done, and maybe they will have their own work days with their families.

1 comment:

MsTypo said...

My brothers and i did very few chores as kids and our spouses have spent the last many years hating my mother for this. My husband and my SILs have all said they wished my mother had babied us less about chores so that we learned to do more around the house.