Child Labour!

At Fireflies we encourage the children to join in – with games, with craft activities, with play, and yes….. even with the dreaded chores!!

It’s important for children to feel included and involved in the world around them, and chores are (unfortunately!) an important part of that world – whether it’s something simple, like putting your shoes away, or something much bigger like fixing a fence!

It’s also essential that our children can feel independent in an appropriate way – after being at school all day where they have to sit and learn, and do as they’re told – we try to foster a home-from-home feel, and expect the children to be a part of the ‘Fireflies family’… and that means not only getting to do all the fun stuff with us, but helping out in other ways too!

We have a ‘Chore Chart’ where the children can choose a chore for the session – the children find their own name, and place it in one of the Chore boxes. We help them to read and understand what each chore is, so that they can make as informed a decision as possible – but essentially they choose their own job for the day.

The children (mostly) feel very important and grown up when they are doing helpful jobs like laying the table, or sweeping the floor after tea so we can play there. There are of course the more reluctant children that complete their chores a little more grudgingly – but hey, we ALL have days where we don’t feel like doing the washing up!!