Teaching Children There is Joy in Every Job: BYU Women's Conference

My next class today was about teaching children to have joy in working.  Which we seriously need to work on at our house.  (and not just the kids either.)

Here are my favorite parts about this class:

Saying "Go clean your room" is overwhelming, but saying "LET'S GO clean your room" sounds better to little ears.

No one likes to be told what to do, "Never let a job to be done become more important than a person to be loved" (see printable below).  Tell your kids the chores they'd like to do in advance so they can think about it before they need to have it done - then they can decide themselves to do it. (Or in my children's case, NOT do.)

Simplify family life by prioritizing what's really important, what you can't give up.  Be flexible, keeping rigid schedules never works for families because there's always SOMETHING that will get in your way.  Work together - a team will accomplish something faster than when you're by yourself.  Offer praise, make it personal, give pride in a job well done (or just a job done).

How you ask your children to do a job makes a difference.  Let them do short amounts of work as a team - you'd be surprised how a 5 minute cleaning session can really get stuff done.

Don't give kids whatever they want.  If they have to wait for it and earn the money themselves through chores, they'll learn respect for their things, they'll value them more, they'll learn to work for what they want.

Not all jobs need to have earthly rewards - thinking of all that Christ has done for us will help us appreciate the things we need to do.  Knowing how hard Christ worked, will help us feel joyful about the amount of work we have.  Also a reward can be knowing that you did the job, be satisfied by your work, and being motivated to be helpful in the future.

As children learn about Gospel Doctrines, they will feel more responsibility and a greater desire to work in the home.

Making sure your child feel totally loved (5 love languages) will make them be much more willing to do jobs and chores.  It also helps with self-esteem and all that good stuff, but this class is about work.

Don't criticize someone after doing a job.  They get enough of that from the world, they don't need it at home.  And even if you do it light heartedly or jokingly your kids will still figure it out - they're pretty smart.

Look at work as an opportunity and not a drudgery.  Everyone should have a choice to work, and not be forced.  Patience must be practiced when dealing with kids on this concept.  LOOOOTS of patience.

Goal: Try to do chores WITH my children instead of forcing them to do them alone.  Think of short jobs.  Give more praise and choice.

And here's an awesome free printable to go along with this class:

Just click to download this free BYU Women's Conference Printable.