online meanderings: training girls

Today I pick up where I left off in my series on kids and chores. I'd like to tell you about a girl talk series on training daughters to manage a home.

You may remember my series on biblical womanhood. It was based on Carolyn Mahaney's book Feminine Appeal, where she says this about mothers and daughters:

Of all the mentoring relationships among women, none is more significant than the one between a mother and her daughter. Those of us who have been blessed with daughters have the opportunity, and indeed, the obligation to emphasize the feminine qualities of Titus 2 in our teaching repertoire.

We live in a society that emphasizes preparation and education for everything but marriage, motherhood, and homemaking. Therefore we must give this profession our highest attention when it comes to preparing our daughters for their futures.

How do you train a daughter to manage a home? Carolyn and her daughters gave their ideas in last year's girl talk series on training girls, starting with this quote in the post Homemaking school:

"The fact is, our girls have no home education. ... Those early habits, which would have made domestic care a light and easy task, have never been taught ... ; and the result is, that when cares come, as come they must, they find them misery."

The series continued with Note from a homemaker, which included these sobering words from a mother of grown children:

I see [my daughters] struggle in certain areas of homemaking and know that I could have saved them much heartache and frustration if I had done my job as a mother properly.

The next post, A daughter's heart for the home, talks about inspiring girls with a vision for homemaking in a world which devalues it.

Mom's example in the home is reassuring for mothers of toddlers because it says this isn't the time for training in homemaking! It acknowledges that it's important to teach boys to help around the home, but not to forget that we're training them for a different role to girls.

Homemaking 101 talks about the practicalities of handing on every-day skills to our daughters. I love - and am terrified by! - the idea of asking an older daughter to run the home for a few weeks. What a brilliant way to help a girl (or a boy!) realise what's involved in managing a home.

For better or for worse suggests helpfully that when you're weak in a certain area of homemaking, you ask someone else to teach you and your daughter these skills, or go to classes together (although I don't really see bow-tying as an important womanly pursuit - clearly, I'm deficient in my femininity!).

There's a great post about Homemaking books if you're interested in doing some reading with or for your daughter.

Two useful posts from other blogs are Nicole's working with kids, on how you can teach kids just by getting them involved in housework; and Heather Koerner's Study to show yourself an SAHM, on the importance of training in managing a home.

Lots of food for thought! I'll try to wrap it all up soon - God willing! - with a post on kids and chores. If you have any final suggestions or comments, I'd love to hear from you!

image is from daveparker at flickr.com