September meeting

Chapter 9: Give Your Children a Work Ethic

"The principal cause of boredom is the hatred of work. People are trained from childhood to hate it. Parents often feel guilty about making children do anything but the merest gestures toward work. Perhaps the children are required to make their beds and, in a feeble and half-hearted fashion, tidy up their rooms once a month or so. But take full responsibility to clear the table, load the dishwasher, scrub the pots, wipe the counters? How many have the courage to ask this of a ten-year-old? It would be too much to ask of many ten-year-olds because parents have seriously asked nothing of them when they were two or three. Children quickly pick up the parents’ negative attitudes toward work and think of it as something most sedulously to be avoided."

--Elisabeth Elliot

What are your views on the above quote that Kim uses to introduce this chapter? Do you agree or disagree?

In this chapter, Kim addresses teaching our children a Christian work ethic. What does that look like in our homes? In her home it involves working on her farm, pulling up fences, scraping hog floors and feeding calves. But how do I teach my children a strong work ethic when the most arduous chores on our  list are taking out the trash and cleaning off the table? This is something I struggle with and look forward to getting the groups' opinions on this topic.

Kim then states “hard work builds character.” And what is character? “Character is having the ability to see beyond this second in time and to preserve beyond what feels good. It is learning self-discipline to make your body do more than your feelings want to. It is the training the mind to overcome the flesh (74)."

Many time I find myself asking, “ Can character be taught among our not-on-the-farm-chores of table setting and wiping down the bathroom sink? " What are your thoughts on that? What are ways your family teaches character in your home?

Chapter 10: Repeating Yourself?

We can easily fall into the repeating habit without even realizing it. First-time obedience and ways to combat that detrimental habit are presented in this chapter. 

Chapter 11:Teaching a New Chore

Not only are there effective steps in teaching a new chore to our children, but considering their attitudes while performing those chores is an essential part of chore training.  Some of the struggles of the attitudes are presented in this chapter, along with Bible verses that pertain to a particular struggle.

September's Challenge: Take at least one picture from this checklist, or commit to taking one, to be entered in this month's drawing.