Posted on 11/05/2008 3:41:13 PM PST by john in springfield
If you're like me, you've felt at least a bit discouraged today. Here's a little something to cheer you up.
This afternoon our 7-year-old daughter (we'll call her "Allie") received a letter from the Editor-in-Chief of Highlights magazine (you know, the kids' magazine you so often see in places like doctors' offices.) My wife knew that Allie had sent a letter in the mail to Highlights earlier, but she didn't know the content of her letter.
Here's the letter we received back:
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Dear Allie:
Thank you for your letter. You wrote that you are home-schooled. You told us that you have lots of chores and you don't want to do them. You asked what you should do.
I know chores can be boring, Allie, but they play an important role in providing a nice home for you to live in, and they keep your family happy and comfortable. Everyone should contribute to the household they live in.
Perhaps there's a way you could make your chores more fun. You could try listening to music while you work or maybe a book on tape(available in your local library). You could make a game of your chores and see how fast and well you can do them, and then attempt to break your record the next day. Also, maybe rewarding yourself when you're done with your chores will give you something to look forward to. Speak with a parent about the reward. It doesn't have to be money, but it could be picking what you'd like to eat for dinner or dessert, being able to pick what to watch on TV, playing outside for fifteen minutes longer, etc. I'm sure your mom or dad would have some excellent suggestions, as well.
I hope this helps, Allie. Best wishes from all of us at Highlights.
Sincerely,
Christine French Clark
Editor in Chief
Nothing hugely significant, but it kind of cheered me up, so I thought I’d share it in hopes it might cheer others as well. :-)
Unfortunately, last night was Goofus v. Gallant...and Goofus won.
Excellent.
No that is Doofus!
That’s the truth, isn’t it?
Nope. It was Goofus. Google search entirely aside, I still remember reading that mag when I was a kid.
Thank you - I am going to use the ideas in that letter to your daughter to spur myself into some kind of physical action and mental tidying up! Clean house - ice cream - you get the idea!!
Right now I seem to be obsessed with my thumb - keeping it firmly placed in my mouth.
This too shall pass! LOL
Your daughter is a peach - you lucky parent!!! Trouble
This is very good advice and not what I expected. A lot of Americans would do well to heed the message that his contains. Thanks for posting it.
That’s adorable :)
John,
I agree, notg huge, but such a pleasure to not be undermined as a parent.
A victory for our side, I say!!
mrs
Thanks for giving me a smile.......appreciate the post
Yes, I really appreciated that!
We knew she didn’t like doing chores (it doesn’t even really matter WHICH chores we give her, either - she doesn’t like ANY of them, lol), but never guessed she would write to Highlights about it.
In thinking of this, I’m reminded again of a study I read about some years ago that some researchers did on happiness. It turned out that among the adults they surveyed, they could only find one common thread between those who were happy as adults.
Almost all of them had been “made to do chores” as a child. :-)
That is wonderful! Nice to have something to smile about today. Get extra issues. When my daughter was seven Highlights published a poem she wrote. She was absolutely thrilled and quite the little celebrity with her friends for a short time. She’s 21 now, but I still have that issue. It’s one of my favorite things.
You know this does bring a smile to my face.
Interestingly enough, it has a LOT to do with how many of us feel today. There are some interesting parallels.
Think about what this letter said. It told her to do the job, and do it well and quickly. This is something we need to instill in all of our children’s minds.
I work with a lot of teenagers and I can tell you that they have NO WORK ETHIC these days. They try to do as little as possible and not get caught being lazy. It’s ridiculous!
This letter is uplifting because it does teach the young girl that chores are put in place to make our home a nice place to live in. The same applies for our country. We work hard to make our country a nicer place to live in.
This is another call to arms. We need to start with our children and instill in them the values that are most important. We need to teach our kids, that they can expect a reward for HARD work and not expect to get something for nothing. I think that is a LOT of the problems with our nation today.
How nice. I might break down and get a subscription for their new magazine geared towards pre-schoolers for my grandkids. Has anyone seen it?
Good for your daughter, writing them a letter! A truly lost art. That took some initiative.
I was making a pun!
I was making a pun I was calling Obama Doofus! It is like dumb a**.
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