James is the third child of three children. He is eight years old. His parents own a farm, and on weekends they sell eggs, milk, bananas and oranges to the people in the community. On weekends, everyone works together to clean the house and gather the goods to have them ready for sale.

Mother Jenny told James, his older brother Paul, and his sister Elizabeth to go to the farmhouse to feed the chickens and collect the eggs for sale. James asked, “Why do I have to go? I’m tired.” His mother replied, “James, we all have to work together so we can get the job done quickly.”

She gave James the basket to put the eggs in. James slowly walked behind his siblings swinging the basket. When they reached the farm house, James gave his sister the basket and then ran off into the field shouting, “I am going to look if the goats have enough water!”

Paul and Elizabeth collected the eggs, fed the chickens and still there was no sign of James. They went outside to look, but he was nowhere in sight. Elizabeth said, “Paul, let’s go because mother is going to be angry if we don’t get back in time for lunch and for dad to deliver the goods.”

When they got to the house, mother asked, “Where is James?” Paul told her what happened. Mother was very angry. They all sat at the table and had lunch. James still didn’t return. Paul and mother helped dad load the donkey with the goods while Elizabeth cleared the table and washed the dishes.

As they stood at the gate waving bye to Dad, mother saw James running towards the house and she called out to him “James! Where were you? Your brother and sister returned almost an hour ago and had lunch, helped clear the table and loaded the donkey so that dad could deliver the goods. Everyone was working while you were out in the field playing.”

James replied: “I am sorry mother; I did not realize the time was getting late.”

Mother said: “Because you do not like to help with the chores, you will rake the yard all by yourself and then you prepare your own lunch.”

It was almost an hour, and James still wasn’t finished raking the yard. He was tired and hungry, so he decided to go to his brother and sister for help. He told them that he was sorry for not helping today. Paul and Elizabeth decided to help James rake the yard and they were done in fifteen minutes. He washed his hands and quickly prepared a sandwich as he was very hungry. After clearing the table, he went to the verandah to speak with his mother, brother and sister. He said, “Now I understand why it is so important to work together and help each other. We get the work to be finished quicker. It is much easier when we all work together and we have more fun too. Thanks Paul and Elizabeth for helping me rake the yard. It was so much easier.”

Mother smiled, and from that day James always wanted to help with chores.