The Little House Series

When my children were younger, I read through the Little House series out loud to them twice, and I think we even listened to it on audio once while traveling. I'm listening to it again over audio and I'm just loving it! I tend to forget things rather quickly, so it's been fun re-living this part of homeschooling on my own :) So far I've listened to all of the first 3 books [note: I'm listening to them in chronological order, not published order] ... Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, and Farmer Boy. 

One thing that strikes me over and over and over again is how much was expected of the children. They were NEEDED ... they were a necessary part of the family and each had expectations to contribute according to their abilities and age. Chores were not just annoying and inconvenient busy-work or things they did for THEMSELVES (like cleaning THEIR room, making THEIR bed, putting THEIR dishes in the sink, etc); chores were what kept the family ALIVE! Working in the garden, working in the fields, helping with butchering and processing of meat and produce and milk and butter, sewing, spinning, training animals, hauling wood, splitting wood, hauling and storing blocks of ice ... on and on.

Think about it. If everyone didn't pitch in and do their part:
- There would not be enough FOOD to last the winter
- There would not be enough clothing to go around
- There would not be enough hay or feed for the animals
- There would not be such a variety of food on the table
- There would be no heat, or not enough heat
- There would be no shoes on their feet

You get the picture. Children were expected to do their part and that's just the way it was ... if they didn't, there were IMEDIATE and FUTURE consequences, and everyone felt the effects. 

Today most people would view that way of living as "child abuse", however I see the opposite ... expecting nothing of children and allowing them to do as they want is setting their future up for failure. "We" [not me!] are raising a generation of entitled brats who are also whining sissies that get offended at E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. 

Another thing that strikes me over and over and over again is what kind of behavior was expected. In certain situations, children were to be seen and not heard. At meal time, dad and mom and other adults could speak at the table, however the children were to remain QUIET. Don't get me wrong, I personally see nothing wrong with family conversation at the table, but it should be directed and controlled by the adults. We liked to use meal time as a chance to catch up on how the day was going, what we got done, what we had left to do, what blessed us, and so on. It was not idle talk. But it seems now more often than not, children are left to themselves - sadly in so many cases they are not expected to eat at the table or even in the same room!! The idea of sitting down as a family at the table for a meal is almost obsolete in many circles today, as is the idea of making one meal for everyone and eating it at the same time. Families live parallel lives that rarely intersect for any meaningful reason.

The Farmer Boy is freshest in my mind because I just finished listening to it this morning. In it, Almanzo tells of a holiday family gathering at his house. When it was time for everyone to sit for the meal, the ADULTS were served FIRST! The children were expected to sit quietly and patiently - once all the adults had their plates, the children got served, oldest to youngest. All the while they were quiet. 

Of course they had their fun, too!! But fun was cherished because there was never much time to be idle and indulge in selfishness. Fun could be had during work in appropriate ways, and then there were also times of playing with friends and such ... however most of the time children were engaged in meaningful tasks. The book, "Folks, This Ain't Normal", by Joel Salatin, has come to my mind often during this series. If you have not read it, you must do so!

One more thing that really caught my attention is how LITTLE they had, and how much they APPRECIATED it!! Laura and Mary, for example, SHARED ONE TIN CUP for the first several years of their lives. Finally one xmas they each received a gift of their very own tin cups ... and WOW were they ever excited! They valued and had respect for their cups because they were so precious. Laura had a corncob for a baby doll until she was 5 or 6. That was pretty much all they had for "toys". Look around at the toys your children have ... do they appreciate and value them? Do they respect them? If not, it's probably time to thin them out. 

Shoes, clothing, furnishings ... pretty much everything was homemade and they all knew the hard work put in to making them. Almanzo once asked his dad for a nickel so he could get a lemonade at the fair. His dad explained to him how that one little nickel equals "x amount of work" [I forget now how much, but it was a lot back then!] - and did it sound smart to drink it all up in a minute with nothing to show for it? His dad ended up giving him 50 cents and told him to be careful how he spent it. Almanzo chose to spend his 50 cents on a baby pig.

Almanzo's dad decided against using the threshing machine because, "it saves time, but what good is more time if you have nothing to do?" Threshing was a task saved for the winter - it filled up the spaces in the long winter days and kept a body physically working instead of idle. 

And for fun ... 
I think it's neat how there were always buyers coming around at certain times of the year. One fall Almanzo's dad decided to hold off selling his potatoes because the price was low and he knew it would be better in the spring. In the spring when the potato buyers from New York showed up in the nearest town, THE WHOLE FAMILY worked for THREE DAYS STRAIGHT loading and hauling their potatoes to the buyers. They hauled and sold 500 BUSHELS for $1 a bushel. That's about 30,000 pounds of potatoes for $500! Wowzers that's a lot of potatoes! Think of all the hard work that went in to those potatoes ... from saving seed potatoes the year before, cutting all the seed potatoes, drying / curing them, getting the ground ready, planting, tending, hilling, harvesting, hauling, storing [and you know the storage had to be made!], and then on the other side - hauling to the wagon, driving to town, unloading for the buyers. The whole family is needed, and what a neat way to spend your time together!

Another time a butter buyer from New York came by the house to look at Almanzo's mom's butter. She sold him 500 pounds of butter for 50 cents a pound. That's a lot of butter!! During peak season, butter was made twice a week, and it was not just a quick, easy job. Several gallons of milk were gathered each day, stored to culture and separate, skimmed, and turned in to butter. I imagine it took a full day, twice a week, to get through all of the cream. 

The children were involved in every process on the homestead. They knew where their food came from, how their clothes were made, how the family made money, how the family spent money, and so on. Their very lives depended on being a valuable part of the family.

What do our children know about life? Are we raising adults or children? If we are raising adults, we'd better be thinking about how they are spending their time and what is expected of them!!