My father asked me to get him a beer since I can remember. No lasting damage was done. However, I did acquire a taste for beer early on.
So long as the kid is big enough to not spill the beer over himself, the floor, and the furniture, I don’t see the problem.
Isn’t this one of those gateway requests which will lead to you asking your child to bring you heroin? Try to think ahead.
I don’t see a problem with the kid fetching a beer from the fridge. In fact, I think you should get him a fake ID so he can keep the fridge fully stocked at all times.
Uncle Bud: I’ll bet you can’t open the fridge by yourself, can you.
Me (age 4): Yes I can!
Uncle Bud: But you don’t know where those beer bottles are, do you?
Me: Yes I do!
Uncle Bud: Are you tall enough to reach one?
Me: Sure.
Uncle Bud: You probably don’t know where your dad keeps the bottle opener, do you?
(Uncle Bud was my babysitter from age 3 to 9. Despite the fact that he only ever sat on the chair, watched the fights, smoked his cigars and drank his beer, he had a way to make everything you did seem special. And note from above - he never really asked me to do anything - he just sorta guided the conversation. And you can bet I sure did know how to change that channel, and I proved I was tall enough to reach that volume knob as well!)
What? The heroin trade will teach him valuable street smarts, and will have him start on his metric conversions.
Boy, some of you would have a real hard time living in the Czech Republic.
Parents make their kids go to the local pub and get a jug filled with beer to bring home. I’m not kidding. Mainly in smaller towns, but it happens in Prague too. Here is a recent story about Dzbans and fresh beer.
" In small villages, fathers even send their children off to the local pub with the family dzban before mealtime. It’s probably not quite legal, but in a country with such a strong beer-drinking tradition, it’s widely accepted, especially in smaller communities. "
I have to admit it is one of the funnier sights to see when walking into a pub and an 8 year old girl is tottering out with a 2 liter jug of beer…
-Tcat
I agree that the parent is there to fulfill the child’s needs, but I have a new perspective on the issue of how much kids can do after watching my SO with his 3-year-old daughter. He does not subscribe to the “I am my child’s servant” philosophy. Of course, he provides for her, is sweet and kind, helps her all the time with all manner of things, but he also fosters in her an excellent sense of independence. She regularly fetches juice from the refrigerator, tissue for her runny nose from the bathroom, socks from her dresser, etc. He doesn’t treat her like a servant at all, but he also doesn’t allow her to treat him like one. OTOH, they are happy to assist each other—they regularly ask each other for help with certain things – so I’m sure she would fetch him something gladly if he asked, and he would ask respectfully. I can’t actually imagine him asking her for a beer, though. But anyway, my point is I think there’s a lot to be gained by giving kids responsibility early on. Why on earth can’t he root around in the refrigerator? This 3-year-old can think and act for herself, is extremely capable and confident, and has excellent problem-solving and conflict-solving skills, and I think it’s because of the way he doesn’t really treat her like a child in certain ways. In certain appropriate ways (and not in many other ways), he treats her like a really short adult.
Mom???
I’m one of five kids. By the time we were old enough to stand on a chair and do the dishes, we did them. By the time my oldest sister was 8 she was ironing all the uniforms for us to wear to school. This doesn’t mean my mother sat around eating bon-bons…just that with a large household there was plenty to do and we were expected to help. Even now, when we go to visit, we’ll automatically peel the spuds for dinner and do the dishes.
We weren’t guests in our home, we were members of the family, with the rights and responsibilities that entails. So yeah, if dad wanted a beer, or a wrench, or a specific screwdriver, we’d fetch it. And along the way we learned how to work cooperatively. We also learned how to do home repairs by helping (girls as well as boys) and how to cook and clean and iron (boys as well as girls) and basically how to live as adults.
StG
I remember back in the day (sheesh) early '70’s, Dad would send me to the store with a note signed by him and I’d buy a six pack or cigarettes for him, no problem.
I was doing that for my folks well into the mid-eighties.
Wow. I thought the reason to have a child was to have somebody to mow the lawn. Imagine my suprise when I opened this thread, and discovered that they can be made usefull at a far younger age?