Wonda: Newfound Family

Community

Wonda, one of the fathers in an ENP Parents Workshop group shared that he has a very difficult time assigning chores to his children. He and his wife both work full time and they need help from their children in keeping the house tidy and in order. Wonda has asked his children to help out many times, and it has never been effective. The children are unresponsive and when the husband and wife come home exhausted at the end of a long day, they have an ocean of household chores facing them. The result was a lot of anger and blame in the home, from both the sides of the parents and the children. Following one of the group meetings, Wonda decided to talk to his children about the difficulty him and his wife experience in coming home from work and then being overwhelmed with work at home. To Wonda’s surprise, after the discussion, the children immediately joined together to divide the chores at home, each one volunteering for the task they wanted to do. They split up into pairs- each older child joined up with a younger child. Since then, all the chores at home are equally divided between the children and the parents. Wonda and his wife feel like they can finally breathe and are more available for their children. This newfound space has improved the mood in the house, as well as the relationships between the children and their parents.