How about the recipients take shifts babysitting. Say two hours of babysitting out of an eight hour day? Kid get to see their moms and know they are never far away. And all the mommies and kids could have a healthy lunch together? This really irks my libertarian bones, but mommies and kids hit a soft spot with this old grandfather.
Moms could also do most of the kitchen work as well. For some of them it would be job training since not everyone has aptitude for more intellectually demanding work.
The one thing we ought never, ever do is subsidize indolence.
BTW, sowing and knitting was probably about as good as it got in the Nineteenth Century. In the early part of the century about 90% of the American population worked on farms. Mill towns grew up in New England (and elsewhere) because a mill job was vastly preferable to drudgery of farm work. Lucky was the Irish immigrant girl who could find 60 hours a week of work in the mill.
The wheels are a turning... I totally agree with you. If we implement a sytem of training/work for welfare benifits then everyone actully benifits from it in the long run and it will help instill values and good ethics back into people. Especially people who already come from poorer families.