6-year-old loves helping builder with home patio work, gets an awesome reward and a life lesson

A builder's "pay packet" for a 6-year-old boy called Harry is going viral after his mother posted it on Twitter. Her son, who loved helping the builder out with the construction work on their new patio, simply wanted to learn more and be helpful. In return, he was given in return for his work a small payment—and a life lesson. The mother, who goes by the username Steph_heathcote on the social media platform, wrote: "We have just had our patio done and my six-year-old has loved going out and helping the builder, so it made his day to receive this. What an example of kindness."

According to the builder's pay packet, the little boy helped with these activities: passing bricks and little pavers, pointing brickwork, mixing cement, loading stone, taking pictures of blackbirds and a spider, saying why more times than the builder had ever heard someone say why before. He was also rewarded for, most importantly, being a "smashing little guy." At the very end, the builder did not forget to cut "tax and national insurance" from his pay packet. At the end of it, the whole reward came up to £10 (that is just a little over $13 right now).

Folks online absolutely loved the little note and reward. Many parents thought it was a great way to teach kids about how hard work matters (and pays off) while others appreciated the builder's kindness. A user wrote, "I love this, but I can't believe the little guy got dinged for taxes and insurance. Guess he's starting those life lessons early." Another shared their story of a similar experience. "Fantastic," they stated. "When we had an extension done I was massively pregnant and had a five/six-year-old too. I will never forget the kindness our builder showed him. His name is engraved on one of the bricks and he was allowed to sign the concrete Hollywood style before tiles were laid." One user also asked, "What is Harry planning to spend his first wage packet on? Lots of sweets and treats, I hope."

Parenting experts have shown that letting children help with household chores and simple tasks is actually a really good way to teach independence, cooperation, and responsibility. Some of the tasks parents can ask their young ones to take charge of could be decorating their own rooms. They could be encouraged to choose the paint colors and the bedsheets. Essentially, showing children that the house is theirs too teaches them that they can be part of taking care of it as well since it partly belongs to them. As for Harry, he's clearly learned his lesson and will probably be more involved in future household tasks. The patio didn't turn out too shabby either! Good job, Harry.