Child labour
I don’t know who decided that child labour was a bad thing. I mean, I had four children over for the weekend and I feel it would have been more abusive to not let them work! When they arrived Friday night, one of the first questions was what chores there were to be done. When they awoke Saturday morning, the boys asked eagerly for me to open the tool shed whilst the girls went straight for the weeding tools that I keep in the shop. It was fantastic to see how excited they all were to help me out in the yard all day! Then this morning, they nearly fought with each other over who was going to help make breakfast (yummy coffee cake).
Now, my flower beds are all weed-free and the yard has been nicely raked. They even put all the tools away when they were done with them!
I know that if I was their mum and this was their home, I probably wouldn’t get all the help, but I guess that it’s a fun treat to help someone else. And a really great treat to be called “Miss Frances” by two of the children. (The other two called me Aunt Frances, as to them, I am.)
The kids are all very excited about coming back to visit and help again, and it just makes me so happy to see how eager they are to be here. And I don’t think it’s just because they like playing with Schrodie or the fact that they always get to walk to town (on their own!) for ice cream when they’re here.
What a great weekend I’ve had!
Note: The adults were all very helpful and very wonderful, too. I was very lucky to have seven wonderful house guests all weekend!
Sounds like a great visit. Of course, now that their parents have read this they’re rumbled — no more getting out of chores at home!
Very true! And it sounds like there is a lot to do at home since their parents are all getting ready to plant vegetables in a couple weeks’ time! I can hear it now: “No, you can’t go weed for Aunt Frances until you weed for me!”