Children and Responsibility …..

We love animals! We have our own little “urban farmette” here ! A couple of years ago my husband and I were discussing how to make sure that our children knew about responsibility and hard work… without making them into child slaves!
http://www.lds.org/manual/teaching-no-greater-call-a-resource-guide-for-gospel-teaching/lesson-1-parents-teaching-responsibility?lang=eng  This link contains a beautiful talk on teaching children responsibility. I really felt a strong urge in my heart that we needed to find a good and fun way to teach this particular thing to our children. As my hubby and I bounced ideas off of each other, something other than just their regular chores, my husband announced that he wanted to get a couple of chicks and a little chicken coop for the backyard. He’s a farm boy at heart and he brought up the fact that the kids do well feeding the dogs and the fish etc… inside, what if they had the opportunity to have shared responsibility ( mommy and daddy also helping out ) by caring for some animals. That would teach them that they are being stewards to God’s animals. It would teach them that even when you don’t want to do your chores, etc, there are living, breathing things depending on you. It would teach them that sometimes responsibilities are not easy ( feeding your animals in the snow!) but that the rewards are gratifying. When Dylan holds one of is chickens or when his ducks “laugh” at him, when Marlee snuggles her bunny, when Sydney carries her bunny around on her hip and gets kisses, these kids are learning responsibility and also they are getting a huge reward!
So this was one of the things we have incorporated into our home and it’s really working out well so far. We also have a list of chores that the kids can complete to earn a quarter or fifty cents here and there ( up to five dollars a week) and if they want extra money they complete the chore and mommy writes down how much they have in their “bank account”. When they do their regular chores each week they receive a small allowance based on age. They also do the responsibilities with the animals, which they do not get paid for. They understand that some responsibilities you have to do getting paid. That’s real life.
What are some great ways or inspiring quotes that you have used in your parenting to teach your children responsibility ?
Happy Parenting! Love, JL~