Child Abuse?

Child abuse? We might have thought so when we were growing up. Child labor? Well yeah! We were children, and we were taught to work. We were part of family and as such were expected to contribute to the needs of that family. We probably had more responsibilities than most children of our day even though more was expected of all children back then than is expected today. Because of our Mother's limited capacity, my dad needed help in sustaining the needs of the family. Dad worked so hard and was so loving and protective of Mom. I will always respect and admire him for that. And he did try hard to make our lives as normal as possible, but he needed help, and we were it. Mom felt so badly that she was unable to do more, and I remember sometimes finding her softly crying in the bedroom on her "bad"days. We all know what those are, don't we. She tried hard to compensate for her lack of physical work by spending time reading to us, teaching us, talking with us and supervising our work. And she was the "spiritual giant" in our home.

Having this as background I will tell you of the daily and weekly chores that were required of us while we were of elementary school age. Before leaving for school breakfast dishes had to be cleared, rinsed and put in the sink for Mom to wash, our beds had to be made and the animals fed. When we came home it was play with J.D. so Mom could take a nap, weed our row in the garden, and pick a job from a list that Mother made out. These would be things like, sweep the kitchen floor, dust the living room, change the beds, etc. much like the lists you make today. Of course on Monday, we did the laundry. Mother did all the ironing because she could sit and do it on her mangle iron. For those who have never heard of a mangle iron it consisted of a large padded roller about three feet long that when activated by a knee control would roll and press against a heated back plate of the same size. You would put the article to be pressed on the roller and then activate it, pressing the article against the the metal plate as it rolled. It was absolutely amazing what mom could do with that iron. She did everything...Dad's white shirts, our dresses (even the ones with puffed sleeves) pants, jackets...yes, everything. When we got a little older, about eight as I remember, we girls ironed the pillow cases, sheets, and Dad's handkerchiefs on that iron. (Yes, we ironed sheets and pillow cases.) I remember once trying to do the ironing on the mangle for Mom to surprise her. What a joke! After scorching several items, I gave up. When we were a little older we began doing our own ironing with a regular iron. Almost everything that went into the wash had to be ironed back then. Mother also prepared dinner, but as most children do, we had to set and clear the table and do the dishes (no dishwashers).

Fridays and Saturdays were the "clean good" days. On Friday our room had to be cleaned good. That meant the beds had to be moved and the floor cleaned first with a dust mop and then on our hands and knees with a damp rag to finish the job. About once a month we had to clean the floor with a special a paste wax for hardwood floors. On Saturday, the rest of the house had to be cleaned. The kitchen floor had to be mopped on hands and knees with a paring knife in hand to scrape up stuck on "goo" and to get the dirt out of corners. The rug in the living room had to be vacuumed and the floors throughout the rest of the house (which were also hardwood) had to be dusted. And the bathroom had to be thoroughly cleaned. Mother always checked our work to make sure it was done right. Sometimes we also had to clean the animal cages, mostly the rabbits.

I'm sure we all complained, as children do today, that we were having to work too hard...but never in front of Dad. He grew up having to work hard, and was glad he had learned its' advantages in his life. I am glad, too, that I have learned the value of hard work. It has made my life much easier. That may not make sense to you now, but I guarantee it will some day. I think that it is great disservice to children when parents choose not to teach their children to work The work ethic in our society today is so sad. I see so many young people who want it all, but don't want to have to work for it.

I don't want to leave you thinking that my life was all work and no play...that I had no time to just be a kid. I definitely did, but that's another story.