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让孩子“小鬼当家”的七大绝妙好处我有一位祖母级的朋友，上周我们聊天时她说道自己从前就是一个挂钥匙儿童，这样其实好处颇多。她指责我们这些育儿专家在这个问题上的态度过于消极。 母亲们应该尽量让孩子学会这些小鬼当家的好处。花一个小时在厨房帮忙准备晚餐，将大大胜于在电视前坐一个小时。 A grandmotherfriend I chatted with last week told me that she had been a latch-key child and there were lots ofbenefits. She accused all of us parenting-advice-givers of beingtoo negative about the subject。 Intrigued, Iasked her what the benefits were. She explained that her singlemother took a full-time job when she was 9. This meant my friendwas alone in the house until about 7 every night. Her mother wroteout a set of rules, gave her a key, and told her which neighbor tocall if there was a problem. These were the days before pagers andcell phones so when she closed and locked the door behind her shewas truly alone。 Benefits: 1.She felt her mother trusted her and expected her to beresponsible。 "This was aheady feeling. It made me feel good about myself." 2.She learned how to cook。 On weekendsshe and her mother prepared simple dishes together until her motherfelt her daughter could safely cook supper for both of them. "Ifelt grown-up because none of my friends could get supper on thetable and I could do it! Cooking is still my passion." 3. "Iwas treated like and felt like my mom's partner, not like akid。 Kids todayhave a lot more than I ever did but they don't have any idea whatit means to earn money and be careful with money, they just knowhow to spend it. I turned out the light when I left a room becauseI knew how hard my mom worked and how expensive electricity was."My friend had the benefit of reality, not the fantasy world of TVor a video game。 4.She learned how to be content with just herself。 "When supperwas cooking and my homework was done I wrote little poems, I wrotemy thoughts in my diary, I listened to music, I read. TV was aroundbut we didn't have a set." 5.She figured out how to deal with new or challenging things byherself。 "I didn'thave a parent around to tell me what to do if the toilet didn'tflush but I remembered my mom using a plunger (橡胶吸盘，俗称“拔子”)and I figured out howto do it." 6.She learned how to deal with strong feelings like fear orloneliness。 "I was afraidsometimes in the beginning but I taught myself to figure out whatwas going on when I heard a noise." 7. "Ibecame very close to my mother, I admired her and her importantjob, and I made something of myself." This is thebenefit of having a strong role model。 All thesepoints are worth thinking about. Mothers who don't go to workshould try to give their children some of these benefits. An hourin the kitchen helping prepare supper is much better than an hourin front of the TV set。
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