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| Thursday, April 24, 2008 |
| Child Labor |
It is school vacation week here in Massachusetts and one of my sisters is off roaming the winding roads of New England and Upper New York state college shopping with her daughter. That left her thirteen-year-old son at lose ends for the week. Rather than let him hang out at home waiting for his Father to finish work, she decided to have him stay with his grandparents. Both sets of his grandparents happen to have homes close to each other - and not too far from me.
So my nephew has been kept busy this week shuttling back and forth between households. What has he been up to? Playing video games? Watching TV? Heck no, he has been kept busy with a long list of jobs for each household. Turning over garden beds, hauling around bags of dirt, moving heavy planters, pulling down items from attics, crawling under desks to reach cables, mowing lawns - all kinds of chores. At night I have been meeting him for dinner and making sure he gets to do some fun stuff. Watching movies, visiting the Museum of Science, shopping for toys. So it has not been a week just of work.
But an interesting thing has been happening as he labors alongside his grandparents. They are talking. Really chatting with each other. Instead of the usual "how is school" and the one word response "fine", they are talking about what they are doing. Which then leads to more discussion. When I see him at night he is full of stories about his day. Having a teenage boy dominate the conversation is a new experience for me, usually I have to do the heavy lifting, but not this week.
I think sometimes we forget that working alongside someone is a great bonding experience. How work itself can be rewarding. My nephew is taking pride in what he has helped both his grandparents accomplish this week. He was given the chance last night of having his Father pick him up a day early and he declined the opportunity to escape. He wants to finish out the week. |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 7:53 AM *
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| 5 Comments: |
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That is lovely. I agree - work, particularly physical work outdoors, is really good for kids' wellbeing. It's amazing how teenagers can transform when they escape from their limited world. I imagine your nephew will never forget this week with his grandparents :) Thanks for this great post.
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That is really cool-- it is really hard to break the ice with kids and it's great that he enjoyed sharing those projects with them. It reminds me when I used to stay with my grandparents and help both of them with yard work and gardening.
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That. Is. Awesome. I'll have to remember this when my own kids hit that age.
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I completely agree - some of my fondest childhood memories are of helping my aunt and cousins do the gardening during the school holidays.
One morning we found a small python sleeping under the gardening gloves - whoever said gardening was boring? :)
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Kids like to be treated like other people, IMO. My son is 12, and he takes pride in pointing out something he helped do (to visitors).
Was your nephew paid for his labor? If so, have you talked with him about the magic of compound interest and opening an IRA ASAP?
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That is lovely. I agree - work, particularly physical work outdoors, is really good for kids' wellbeing. It's amazing how teenagers can transform when they escape from their limited world. I imagine your nephew will never forget this week with his grandparents :) Thanks for this great post.