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LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Bryce Hardisty-Phillips cleans his room and does his own laundry and now considers himself lucky that those are all the chores he has to do.

Sage Fabre-Dimsdale, left, Akesha Antoine and Mary-Anne Muyambo ask Morris Lafferty about his childhood. Students in Class 6 at Bompas Elementary School interviewed four elders at Long Term Care in Fort Simpson to find out what their family life was like when they were children. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Hardisty-Phillips, 12, and his classmates in Class 6 at Bompas Elementary School, visited the elders at Long Term Care in Fort Simpson on Jan. 18. The students interviewed four of the elders about what their family life was like when they were children. The common theme was that it was a lot busier.

With translation help from Bernice Gargan, Hardisty-Phillips and four other students talked to Rosa Saulteaux.

"She was really busy, I thought that was really cool," Hardisty-Phillips said.

Her chores included hauling wood, making dry meat, going trapping, picking berries, washing clothes and working on hides. When comparing the number of chores he does to Saulteaux's former workload, Hardisty-Phillips said he wouldn't swap places with her.

Children stayed busy

Through the translator, Saulteaux said she remembers being in the bush with her parents. Children stayed busy with chores and didn't know the meaning of the word bored, she said.

Saulteaux said she finds children today too noisy and too busy. They need to go into the bush, she said.

Morris Lafferty shared similar stories with three other students. His childhood chores included cutting wood and splitting it, carrying water from the river and doing any other tasks that were needed around the house.

Lafferty had to think for a few minutes after being asked by Sage Fabre-Dimsdale, 10, if he had any hobbies as a child.

"I don't think we had any hobbies. We had to work. There was no time for hobbies," Lafferty said.

Fabre-Dimsdale said it sounded like Lafferty was kept quite busy with chores.

"That's maybe because there wasn't as much technology," Fabre-Dimsdale said.

Setting the table, emptying and loading the dishwasher, vacuuming around the house and sometimes taking care of the dog are among Fabre-Dimsdale's chores.

Checkers was a favourite

"But I don't do half as many chores as they used to do," he said.

Life in the past wasn't all work, however. Flora Hardisty recounted how checkers was one of her favourite games and how going to church on Sundays was a special time.

After they were finished their interviews, the students served the elders bannock they had baked along with tea. They also spent some time visiting.

The interview activity was part of health class, which is currently focused on family life, said Leanne Jose, the Class 6 teacher.

The students will use the gathered information to start comparing their childhood to the childhood that elders had, she said.

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