A major tenet in Scientology with respect to the upbringing of children (and one that also happens to be total common sense) is the idea that children should be allowed to contribute. As L. Ron Hubbard said in an article on children,
Children, in the main, are quite willing to work. A two-, three-, four-year-old child is usually found haunting his father or her mother trying to help out either with tools or dust rags; and the kind parent who is really fond of the children responds in the reasonable and long-ago-normal manner of being patient enough to let the child actually assist. A child so permitted then develops the idea that his presence and activity is desired and he quite calmly sets about a career of accomplishment. — LRH
I was reminded of this when my 13-month-old’s grandma volunteered to watch her after my wife & I got back from a trip to Oregon. She’s no beginner in Scientology, and so of course allowed my little girl to help her out during the day in her yard work around the house. Next thing I knew, she was emailing me pictures like the following:
And then of course let her help with the prodigious amount of gardening that needed doing:
You can read the full article in the free on-line course on Children, but the principle is simple enough: when the child wants to contribute, let them contribute!