How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores
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Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores
#2Plain text version: https://text.npr.org/s.php?sId=616928895
Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores
#3My mom related to me a strange phenomenon. My sister's kids, who stay with my mom and who my mom raises, along with all their friends, have managed to gamify chores all by themselves. They compete to see who does more for their respective families. My mom says that this was due a couple pairs of enterprising parents who likely read about a technique on Facebook or somewhere.
It cements my conviction that when you do parenting properly, you're not just making your life and the lives of your kids easier, but you're improving the whole neighborhood.
Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores
#4The secret is there is no secret: kids just want to help so let them.
Curious to know if they're just modeling the adults. I mean, if I set them to work and sit around catching up on Game of Thrones, its not the same thing as if i am working all the time too.
Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores
#5The secret is there is no secret: kids just want to help so let them. Curious to know if they're just modeling the adults. I mean, if I set them to work and sit around catching up on Game of Thrones, its not the same thing as if i am working all the time too.
This isn't restricted to just children. Humans naturally want to help.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/science/01human.html
https://hbr.org/2018/05/how-to-get-the-help-you-need
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/14/selfis...
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-probe-...
Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores
#6The secret is there is no secret: kids just want to help so let them. Curious to know if they're just modeling the adults. I mean, if I set them to work and sit around catching up on Game of Thrones, its not the same thing as if i am working all the time too.
Yeah, kids tend to mimic parents by default so if you are an helpful adult around they will just pick up that behavior. Add to that positive reinforcement loops and thats how you create habits.
Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores
#7Resonating with a point in the article about telling kids "you're not involved in this task", I've noticed that my American neighbors are quite reluctant to allow their kids to use knives, light candles, fill glasses, and some cooking tasks that could result in a lot of mess. As what looks like a consequence those kids are rarely able to help get dinner on the table when they come over.
An uncharitable explanation would be overprotectiveness, but I wonder if it's also simply a lack of time: if the kid is mixing a cake and the batter spills on the floor it is additional work; if they cut their finger it will delay everything. Whereas if you can help your kid become competent you can trust them to look after themselves in more and more situations.
Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores
#8Very interesting.
I thaught my toddler to help dad make his coffee in the morning... Puts the capsule in, pushes the long button, takes the capsule out... Then he smells the coffee and says 'nice' and feels the cup and confirms a job well done by saying 'hot'.
It's surprising how quickly he learnt how to do it, and how keen he is to help dad do it, for no gain of his own.
On the other hand begging him to eat, trick him, or entice him with rewards has had very little impact.
I will try to involve him in most things now.
Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores
#9Very interesting. I thaught my toddler to help dad make his coffee in the morning... Puts the capsule in, pushes the long button, takes the capsule out... Then he smells the coffee and says 'nice' and feels the cup and confirms a job well done by saying 'hot'. It's surprising how quickly he learnt how to do it, and how keen he is to help dad do it, for no gain of his own. On the other hand begging him to eat, trick h…
My 3 year old son is the only one in the house allowed to operate the Keurig now. He will throw a fit if anyone tries to make their own cup.
Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores
#10Resonating with a point in the article about telling kids "you're not involved in this task", I've noticed that my American neighbors are quite reluctant to allow their kids to use knives, light candles, fill glasses, and some cooking tasks that could result in a lot of mess. As what looks like a consequence those kids are rarely able to help get dinner on the table when they come over. An uncharitable explanation wo…
The article seems to think it's lack of time:
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Sure, toddlers may want to help, but let's face reality here. At first, they really can't do much. They can be clumsy, destructive and even enraging. Their involvement in chores often slows things down or makes a mess.
For this reason, many parents in Western culture rebuff a toddler's offer to help, Mejia-Arauz says.
"We have mothers tell us things like, 'I need to do a chore very quickly, and if my toddler tries to help, he makes a mess. So I'd rather do it myself than having them helping,' " she says.