A Broom of
One's Own
Written By Catherine Newman
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This "I can do it myself" lesson extends beyond snack time: Children from 18 months old to just under 3 cheerfully hang dish towels and sweep the floor, and down the hall, in the classroom for kids up to age 5, dishes are being washed and silver polished. Adult caregivers mill around, of course, demonstrating a new task or clarifying a familiar one, untangling one boy from an apron's Velcro tentacles and offering encouragement. But their real work has been in the setup, and now they stay out from underfoot. The kids are doing their own thing, and because nobody has alerted them to the fact that housework is drudgery, it's not.
"From the time you're tiny until you're old, you need to be needed," the teacher, Alice Charland, explains, gesturing from the snack table to the low sink where a boy is resolutely scrubbing dishes. "It's what makes you feel empowered. It's what makes you a person."
Of course, these same empowered little people just might arrive home and promptly orchestrate a whining medley of chaos and lethargy. The group culture of a classroom no doubt helps kids to help — a child notices that the other children are doing chores, and wants to take part.
