As someone who was raised in a household where chores were an everyday thing, and responsibility was instilled from a young age, I can always appreciate mothers who value the same lessons with their own kids.
Nikkole Paulun is one of those mamas. Last year, the single mom from Monroe, Michigan, posted a photo of her 7-year-old son, Lyle, doing some household chores.
With the photo, Nikkole shared her reasoning for teaching her son responsibility at a young age:
“I teach my son to cook & do household chores. Why? Because household work isn’t just for women. Because one day he might be a single man, living on his own, who will actually know how to do laundry & not eat take out every night. Because one day he might want to impress a significant other with a meal cooked by his own hands. Because one day when he has kids & a spouse, he’s going to need to do his fair share around the home. Because I live in a generation of people who complain that school didn’t teach us how to cook, do laundry, tie a tie, or pay taxes. Because teaching my son how to do these things and be a productive member of society both outside the home and inside, starts with ME. Because it’s okay to let your child be a child but still teach them lifelong lessons along the way. My son will never be too ‘manly’ to cook or do chores. He will be the kind of man who can come inside from changing a tire to check on his pot roast. Who can properly sort his laundry and mow the lawn too. Remember parents, a man who believes he shouldn’t have to cook or do chores was once a boy who was never taught any better.”
Though the post garnered almost 62,000 shares on Facebook, the young mother of two was slapped with some unexpected backlash in the comments.
Facebook
Leave it to the Facebook haters to tell a mama how to raise her kids. One woman suggested that you can’t just make your children “be your slaves. Or to do the chores that you yourself don’t want to do.”