Sweet Shoppe Designs – The Sweetest Digital Scrapbooking Site on the Web

Hi everyone! Jacinda here with my very first blog post. When I was thinking about what to write, my thoughts kept drifting towards my kids, and the responsibility I have as their mother to prepare them for adulthood.  I’m a firm believer that it is my responsibility to ensure my kids have all the skills and knowledge required to be successful in life. Schools and churches help with certain areas, but they don’t cover everything. When I was little, my mum taught my siblings and  I  how to cook, sew, iron, clean, do the dishes and help around the house from a very early age. Now it’s my turn to teach my girls.

Brooke is my oldest. She’s eight now, and keen as mustard to learn new skills. She’s always helped in the kitchen, but had never cooked a whole dinner by herself, so that’s where we decided to start. I gave her verbal instructions only, teaching her as she went, so she would learn the correct techniques for meal preparation. She LOVED the responsibility, and her dinner and dessert turned out perfect.

Another skill she’s learning is sewing. I know you’re supposed to start with needle and thread, but we jumped straight to the sewing machine for her first project. We’ll do needle and thread stuff another time.  After some basic instructions and lots of practicing on scrap material, she made the cutest little drawstring bag with only a little help from me.

To be honest, the best part of teaching her these homemaking skills is seeing how really excited she is about it. Brooke loves learning new things. During our sewing project she reiterated over and over how much she LOVED doing this kind of thing.  Her second sewing project was a tote bag for church. I sewed a duplicate bag for her sister, and Brooke would watch each step I did then do it herself on her own bag.  I think I was as stoked as she was when it was finished and looking all pretty.

Recently for family home evening, I taught both girls how to work the washing machine, (how much powder to add, which buttons to push etc), and how to properly clean their bathroom. I figure if they’re going to flick toothpaste all over the mirror then they can clean it off too.  They seemed happy enough to do it, and even clean the toilet, though I’m sure the excitement will wear off soon enough. My youngest Elisa (4) loves to help handwash the dishes, proudly stating the other day that “I’m gonna do this the rest of my life Mummy!” to which I replied “Yes you will darling, yes you will.” LOL.

There are plenty of homemaking skills still to teach, but we’re off to a good start. As they get older their Dad will teach them how to build things and fix things, how to maintain a vegetable garden and how to look after a car and change a tyre etc. We’ll both teach them to manage money, how to stand up to peer pressure, make good choices, and live with honesty and integrity. Some lessons have already started – others will be introduced when they’re older.

I’m always looking out for good blogs/ideas on what to teach next. What do you teach your kids? What blogs do you go to for ideas? I’d love to hear what other families do.