Evening star., 1937-07-12
Old Family for Pach Preserving Paad
Teach the
Children
To Help
Boys Should A ssist
With HOuseWOrk as
Well as Girls.
BY ANGELO PATRI.


IN A household where there are
three boys, a mother who does
the houseWork-all of it-afid father
who works every day except Sunday,
should the boys help their mother
with the housework?
you see" says the mother, Il
do get tired and would like to have
hand now and then from the boys,
but they say it is girls work, and their
father says so too"
There is no sex in the cookstove,
nor in the dishpan, nor anywhere
else in the work to make and keep a
home clean and comfortable for
family of five. Just cooking three
meals a day for them is good-sized
Job. But that is only an incident.
There is the marketing, the house
cleaning, bed making, dish washing,
laundry work, mendlng, and the
countless errands that must be done
, This work is done to make the family
comfortable, and why any member
of it should get the notion that any of
It Is beneath his dignity to perform
but quite fit for mother to do, is
beyond finding out.
A family is partnership or 1t
Is no family. If the members of the
group do not share in all that goes
on in the home. each one seeking his
own comfort and his own ends, the
family disappears and there is only
collection of individuals who are
imposing themselves upon one over
burdened woman. The thought of
such thing ought to make any son
and any father rear on his hind legs,
and get to work with the duster and
the dishrag forthwith.
A boy can learn to do houseWork
as we'll as a girl often better. There
is no great trick about it, He can turn
on a faucet and soap dishrag and
douse the dishes just as smartly as
any girl can. And he can have added
pleasure of knowing that he isn't
spelling lovely polish on his nails.
Boys can cook as we'll as girls. I
know some who can do better than
their sisters. Men have been cooks
for centuries and good cooks, too
There is lot of fun to be gotten out
of cooking dinner if you don't go to
the lob with burning feet and aching
heart, as many a mother has to do
Certainly, let the boys have their
chance.
Mothers are more often the obiectors
than the boys.
"Oh. they get III the way. I'd
rather do it myself and be done with
It,"
That isn't the idea. Begin when
the children are old enough to hang
up a washrag and let them feel they
'di big thing when they succeeded in
getting 1t to stay on the rack From
there on, give each his turn, each
his share in the routine work in the
household from sweeping the cellar
to serving the dinner they have cooked
This is not only for the fine training
and education the children get out
OF the experiences, it is for the unity
1t builds into the family group. Chill
dren love the people they serve, love
the home they work for. They feel
a personal responsibility for the home
when they share in its upkeep and
administration. They feel they belong
there when they share in the perplex-
tiles, the problems, the hopes and the
fears Of the group. Give them all their
chance, down to the last boy. But
begin when they are 3, not 13.
Mr.. Patri has prepared a leafiet
entitled, The Shy Child" in which
he tells parents how to help children
overcome shyness and fear. Send for
1t, addressing your request to Mr..
Angelo Patri, Child Psychology De-
partment Of this paper. Enclose a
self-sddressed, stamped (3-cent) en-
velope.
(Copyrsht. 1879