Teaching Kids about Labor Day

There aren’t
too many holidays in between Independence Day and Halloween so we sometimes
have to struggle to find fun themed projects for kids during those months. But
that’s because many of us forget Labor Day. Although it’s a holiday
that gives working parents the day off and school kids a Monday break, we usually
don’t think of Labor Day is a celebratory affair. But maybe we should.
Labor Day is something that it would be good to teach kids about.
Besides, it gives us an extra holiday to plan teaching projects around!

So how do
you go about teaching your kids about Labor Day? Well, hopefully they
already do some work around the house in the form of chores. You can declare
Labor Day a day off to rest in appreciation of this work. Note that the work
that you all do around the house is important and that it is equally important
to take a little bit of rest from the holiday. By making Labor Day a celebratory
day, you’ll reinforce the lesson of what it’s all about. And you’ll
also help them realize that rest days are nice vacations but that most days
we have to work.

Before Labor Day
actually rolls around, you can start teaching kids about the holiday
by teaching them generally about work. Videos, stories and projects
that emphasize the different kinds of work that there are can all be used to
teach kids about work. When you’re out in the world doing your daily activities,
make it a point to point out the work that everyone is doing to make your community
run efficiently. It goes back to the old lessons we all learned as children
about how the garbage men do their jobs, the cashiers at the supermarket do
theirs and so on to make society work.

You might
end the lessons about Labor Day with a party. Have each child dress
up in a costume that represents a worker that they admire. These costumes can
be made as part of a project to keep costs down. Hats for nurses, doctors, construction
workers and mailman can all be made from paper and other job accessories can
be culled together from the toys that kids already have. The zookeeper can carry
a stuffed lion for example. Be creative and encourage the kids to be
creative too. After the party is over, it will be Labor Day and you
can all just rest!

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