Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • January 16, 2013 If your household is like most, there are many day-to-day duties that must be completed. While tasks like laundry and washing dishes may seem tedious for children, research conducted by the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development shows that involving children in household tasks at an early age can have a positive impact later in life. Without a doubt, chores foster a good attitude about working hard and being responsible, and have many other important benefits. Here are several suggestions to help your child build valuable skills while contributing around the house: Picking up clutter: Make time each day for your child to pick up his or her bedroom or around the house. Try setting a timer and challenging your child to see how much he or she can accomplish in five or 10 minutes. Learning to understand how long different tasks take will help your child become better at budgeting his or her time for homework, timed tests, and assignments at school. Cooking: Helping in the kitchen is an excellent way to put math concepts into action, including fractions (using measuring cups and spoons, for example), addition (when counting ingredients, measuring, and more), multiplication (when doubling a recipe), and telling time and temperature. Older children can learn about chemistry from the changes that foods undergo during the cooking process. Preparing menus and grocery lists: Planning your family’s weekly menu and making an accompanying grocery list requires many different skills. Children Use chores to teach school and study skills must think ahead about what they want to eat, other commitments each evening (such as soccer practice or club meetings), and what ingredients they will need to cook the meal. Planning and managing a project, such as a meal, requires skills children will use again and again. Organizing: As any busy parent knows, there is much to keep track of in a household. Ask your older child to help organize the pantry, a closet, or another area of the home, developing a reliable organizational system. You could also put your child in charge of collecting and sorting the mail every day, maintaining the family calendar, or filing bills and other important documents in the family filing cabinet. Organizational chores emphasize the importance of having a designated place for everything. Students who are organized are more likely to avoid misplacing their homework and being tardy. They will also better understand how to manage multi-step assignments and projects. Cleaning: Cleaning the kitchen or bathroom can be a science experiment. Use all-natural cleaning products, such as vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice and do some research with your child on how these items work and how they differ from chemical cleaning products. Find recipes for homemade cleaners online. Feeding pets: Caring for and feeding the family pet teaches your child about commitment, being relied upon, and keeping to a schedule. It also reinforces the lesson that your child’s actions have consequences. Have your child develop a chart to keep track of feedings, or take things further and bring him or her to veterinary appointments to learn about your animal’s health. Age-appropriate chores teach responsibility, work ethic, organization, and time management. Chores even help children build self-esteem as they gain the satisfaction of seeing tasks through to completion. Chores can also reinforce school skills, such as math, reading, critical thinking, and more. With all of these benefits, assigning chores takes on new meaning. Not only will you gain extra Anonymous donors are making it possible for three students to receive a partial scholarship at Eastern Christian School. The Eastern Christian School Association recently announced that it had received a very generous grant to support awarding three academic honor scholarships in commemoration of the anniversary of 9/11. This is the third year that Eastern Christian School, which operates an elementary school in Midland Park, a middle school in Wyckoff, and a high school in North Haledon, has received a grant for scholarships, according to Eastern Christian Foundation Executive Director Garret Nieuwenhuis. With this donation, the association will be able to award three partial tuition scholarships to a high school senior and two middle school students. To receive the scholarship, the students must be recommended to the Selection Committee by the school administration and be recognized for academic achievement, character, community Scholarships funded by anonymous donors hands around the house, your child will also be learning and growing as a person and a student. This article was submitted by Dr. Raymond J. Huntington. Dr. Huntington and Eileen Huntington are co-founders of Huntington Learning Center, which has been helping children succeed in school for more than 30 years. For more information about Huntington, call 1-800 CAN LEARN. service, and commitment to Jesus Christ. Both the recommended applicant and his or her parents must submit an essay indicating the benefit of an Eastern Christian education for the student and must supply the necessary financial need information. According to Nieuwenhuis, as per an agreement with the donor, there can be no public acknowledgement of the award. Nieuwenhuis indicated that the donors’ lives were affected by the terrorist attacks on 9/11, prompting their generosity. Eastern Christian School is grateful for this generous gift which will support the mission of providing an excellent Christian education to the children and young people of northern New Jersey,” said Tom Dykhouse, the institution’s executive director. “The message of transforming an act intended for evil into a blessing is the very essence of the biblical message of transformation and hope taught to our 750 students on a daily basis.”