My husband and I like to teach our children to be pretty self-reliant. Part of their daily routine includes the usual chores and helping out around the house with meals, etc. Our oldest son Jason will be 16 soon (scary!) so he’s decided he wants a summer job with us. All 3 kids have been helping us out with our on-line quilt shop in some way or another but they are now ready to step it up a bit.

I took the plunge this week and started teaching Jason how to cut fabric. I figured if he’s old enough to learn to drive, he’s old enough to handle a rotary cutter. I started him on fat quarters since we sell tons of those. I showed him how to lay out fabric, make a clean cut, and slice through multiple layers of fabric for efficiency. Once he gets the hang of that, I’ll move onto having him help cut customers orders, too.

Right now Jason is one of my fabric pullers which means when an order comes through, he grabs the labeled bolts and all of the precuts that go along with the order. He’s been doing a great job of that so far, and now he’s started training his younger brother Ryan to do it, too.

Ryan’s other tasks are to label all the packages and open new boxes of material that come in. He likes to get a little creative with the precuts, and I have to remind him they are not building blocks!

Jenna’s  favorite thing to do is fold fat quarters and bag and label charm packs.

She’s got her own system down and has already told me she wants to take over the business when she grows up. Fine with me!

As you can see, we have our work cut out for us this summer.

Our kids love earning money with their jobs and we get a sense of satisfaction knowing we are teaching them to work hard!