by Toni Doswell

Created on: June 21, 2009   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

Children today are hardly given enough attention in the home due to parents working. Some children, however, have the ultimate luxury of having a parent at home. The children, therefore, at an early age become quite independent in their thinking and actions. They are what we call "their own boss" in a broad sense. Parents come home from work exhausted. They are not interested in seeing a dirty house or a disheveled mess in the middle of the floor, so they ask their children why they haven't done their chores. It becomes a contest in a sense, so many parents forego the tension by making bribery a means to settle the problem. Children then become more of their own boss, and actually, they become their parents' bosses by being paid to do chores. This is very prevalent in homes where parents have a few dollars to spare. It matters not the amount, it is the principle that is being ingrained into the children who live in such homes.

Poor mom, and even dad. They do everything from the time their wake up until the time their go to bed. Why can't the children pitch in and help alleviate some of this tremendous pressure without charge? Mom's work is not always compensated.Even when the children grow up and have their own families, some of them still do not realize the sacrifices and hardships Mom had to endure while raising them. The principle that should exist is for everyone to lift their fair share of the load. Mom does not get paid to wash the clothes and fix breakfast. She does not get paid to go shopping or drop off the kids at their practices. Dad does not receive cash for every time he mows the lawn or repairs things in the house. Their lists of unrecompensed labor is long. So why should the children, for whom they are doing most of the work get off free with a short list of chores which are sloppily done?

It has been well said that parents who give their children too much later see that the children, instead of truly loving them for it, don't. The children whose parents give them little seem to love the sox off of those parents. Thjey are always trying to do things to please the parents who do virtually nothing for them. Have you witnessed this too? So, actually, we are not benefiting ourselves or the children in the short or long run to give them too much. When we make them partners in lifting the load of the home, they appreciate themselves, us, and what is being done. In fact, if they go unrewarded they understand that they are part of the family, and not

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