Mom’s Example in the Home

As I promised yesterday, we’re going to talk about how to train our daughters to be homemakers. So many of you asked this question during our Homemaking series, but we ran out of time to talk about it before vacation. We girls have stuff to share on this topic, but as usual, the wisdom is all Mom’s.

Like any aspect of parenting, effective training begins with our example. If we truly prize our role in the home and serve with faithfulness and joy, our daughters cannot fail to notice. Our grandmother Margaret’s example of love for her home was a primary influence in Mom’s life, and we’re so grateful she passed that legacy to us.

On the other hand, our lack of love for the home will also leave an impression. Children are perceptive; they can tell when something is important to us or not. We can’t tell them to make the home a priority if we haven’t first done so ourselves.

Example is essential, but not everything. We also must train our daughters for the most important career of their lifetime. This training begins in earnest in the tween/teen years. So all you mothers of toddlers, you can breathe a sigh of relief. No need to add a homemaking track to your already busy days. Right now it’s all about obedience. As you train your daughter to obey, you are laying a foundation for homemaking training in later years.

But it’s never too early to encourage domestic pursuits…and no doubt, you’ve already noticed your daughter imitate you as you clean or cook or talk on the phone. Encourage her! Buy her a kitchen set! Assign her chores!

A brief aside: don’t try this with sons. Homemaking is what John Angell James calls “a woman’s mission.” Sons have a different career to prepare for. Sure, I make Jack do chores around the house and I’ll teach him to cook Ramen noodles and make his bed. But I want him to learn to kill a lion or a bear. I want to help my husband prepare him to some day provide for and lead a family. He wasn’t created to be a corner pillar (Ps. 144:12) so I’m not trying to fashion him into one. That honor is reserved for my little girl.

Finally, consider, what are your hopes and dreams for your daughter? What do you want her to be when she grows up? If our daughters' success in the world's eyes is more important to us than their success in the home, we will fail to impart a biblical perspective. But if we long for our daughters to glorify God as homemakers, then by His grace they’ll catch that vision too.