The Value of Work

Work is a huge part of our daily lives. We work at everything we do, and we have been since the beginning. Even Adam and Eve were working to the garden to take care of it. The problem now days is that instead of looking at work as a natural part of life, we look at life and work as two different things, and generally, work is “ugly and hard”. This is a common misconception that should really be addressed, especially when it pertains to family life.

            Not only is work between father and mother important (providing and nurturing), but it is very important to teach our children the value of hard and meaningful work. As parents, it often seems easy to use work as a form of punishment. However this should be avoided because it teaches kids to hate working, and this can be very damaging since work is something that continues through life.

It can be hard to teach children responsibility, but here are a few good tips: Have a good attitude about it, and be an example to your kids. Give them a responsibility, such as a pet or a plant that will help them learn from experience. And make it a fun, and enjoyable experience. Growing up my parents knew how important the value of work was and were very good at using these methods to help us learn. For several years me, and those of my siblings who were old enough, raised pigs, sheep, chickens and even rabbits to compete at our county fair. My dad made sure we were out there every day cleaning out the stalls, feeding and watering, and even cleaning the animals. While at the time we often complained and sometimes didn’t want to do it at all, I learned how to work hard and I am grateful for the experience that I had raising those animals, and the work ethic that it gave me.

We also did several other things, like growing a garden. One year my dad decided he wanted to build a big, raised garden bed in or backyard, and so he had a huge pile of dirt delivered and we spent several days hauling all the dirt from the front yard to the backyard, and though it was tough, I still have some great memories that came from that. It was hard but we felt the rewards. Not only did we get some yummy veggies from it, but it was time that we all spent together covered in dirt, laughing, and having a good time, while still learning how to work.

Another thing that my parents did is they always had chores for us to do around the house, and if we didn’t get those done we couldn’t do anything else. We went through several different chore systems, and though some wouldn’t work as well as others, we learned how to clean and take care of things. I am especially grateful for this now because not only do I know how to clean and take care of my own home now, but it is actually something I like to do. It isn’t a chore to me anymore because my parents taught me so well. Some of my best memories come from doing chores as a kid.

We would make games out of it, and blast music while doing them. My favorite one we called 5 minute pickup. We would find a song we could all sing too, and we would start in one room, and while singing the song at the top of our lungs we would clean up as much as we could in the 5 minutes. Then we would move to the next room. With 10 of us we actually got quite a bit cleaned up in those short 5 minutes. In my opinion it was great family bonding time, and because of this and the things I was taught, I truly believe that work is very beneficial and rewarding to families.
-I apologize for the strange fonts, for some reason it won't let me change them J