Purposeful Work

December 17. 2018

“Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives. The need for imagination, a sense of truth, and a feeling of responsibility – these three forces are the very nerve of education.”
~ Rudolf Steiner

Purposeful work. It is SO important for all children to feel they can contribute to the world around them in a meaningful, purposeful way. Now this is certainly not awakened in a younger child, but it is still what drives the need for providing the opportunity and space for meaningful, purposeful work starting from early childhood.

My son, who turns 12 in a few weeks, has slowing been awakening to this need over the last year. He needs tasks that make him feel able, make him feel like he has a role within our family and greater community. He searches out these tasks and if there is a stretch of time where he hasn’t had his fill, he beings to express feelings of doubt about himself. This is the beauty of knowing and understanding child development! I know he needs to go through this in order to become the person he will become. It is my task to create an environment that allows space for him to build confidence in his abilities on his own. Not out of my words of assurance.

He has not yet connected the need for purpose with his mental health, he isn’t awakened enough. So what I need to do until the awakening happens, is to always make sure there is a steady stream of both new and routine tasks for him to work at. And I have found for my son, the more physical the better! Bonus points if it is outdoors as well.

This period of time between seasons is tricky for us city folk! The leaves have fallen and beds have been put to sleep, but there isn’t enough snow sticking around to create routine work. So I created a job, where my son needs to check the poorly tarped swing chair in the back yard for ice (water has been collecting from the rain and freeze cycles), break the ice free, lift it out and break the larger pieces smaller so they will melt faster. My daughter is responsible for bailing out the water under the ice.

To some this might seem like an unnecessary job, and one that could probably be done faster my either myself or my husband. But this task goes so much deeper than getting it done easily. It provides my children with a sense of purpose and ability. They are protecting the chair that Grandma and Grandpa gave us, and have been discussing better ways to tarp it next year. They get both physical work along with mental puzzles (large thick sheets of ice are not easy to move around!) while they complete the task, and an extra dose of fresh air to boot! Many small things that add up to great gains in head, heart and hands.

I feel so blessed that we are able to fulfill these needs for purpose. There are many ongoing studies on children that show the benefits of purposeful work, but the opportunity to do such work is lost within the current social expectations of academic excellence, extra curricular activities and the loving want for parents to “let children be children”. But creating opportunity to deeply participate in the family community, that is very much letting children be children. I hope that one day more people will realize this.

Until next time,
Marina