Significant Work Early in Life: A Great Gift Idea for Children
John O. Andersen
Thinking of what you can do for the kiddies? Here's an idea to consider:
http://www.themestream.com/gspd_browse/browse/view_article.gsp?c_id=49586
A snippet from the article:
"Our ten year old daughter Heidi is learning to do the books for the family
carpet cleaning business. She is careful, detail-oriented, and very excited
about being entrusted with such an important job."
Happy reading,
John Andersen
http://www.themestream.com/gspd_browse/browse/view_article.gsp?c_id=49586
A snippet from the article:
"Our ten year old daughter Heidi is learning to do the books for the family
carpet cleaning business. She is careful, detail-oriented, and very excited
about being entrusted with such an important job."
Happy reading,
John Andersen
John O. Andersen
Our ten year old daughter Heidi is learning to do the books for the family
carpet cleaning business. She is careful, detail-oriented, and very excited
about being entrusted with such an important job.
I still check her work, but visualize the time in the not too distant future
when she will be able to do it all on her own.
Decades ago when families had fewer material conveniences, less
discretionary income, and many more household tasks, it was possibly easier
to find real work for the children to do. Milking cows, mowing lawns,
churning butter, feeding animals, emptying chamber pots, mending fences--the
list went on and on.
And perhaps those children knew their effort was needed; that everyone in
the family depended on them. There was nothing "make-workish" about it. Not
surprisingly, many of them grew up with a solid work ethic, and became
self-reliant adults.
Children intuitively know when we give them important work. They often
respond positively to a gift of trust. They want to be involved in our
world; to do the jobs grown-ups do. We just have to spend the time to train
them, and then give them some real work.
These days, many parents struggle with trying to instill in their children a
good work ethic. They enroll their children in all manner of camps, classes,
and sports teams. They buy them the clothes, the toys, the cars, the college
tuition--everything they're "supposed" to have to fit in, and become
"successful" adults.
Yet if children don't learn to work when they're young, to be meticulous, to
care, and to be reliable, will all of the purchased advantages still ensure
they become true successes in life?
I have my doubts.
Certainly, it makes a lot of sense to give children big responsibility
early; to let them know the family truly depends on their efforts.
Bequeathing them such a gift may, in the long run, prove to be far more
significant than all of the material support we might shower them with over
the years.
And in the short run, at least in the Andersen family, now that Heidi is
learning the books, I get more time for surfing the Net.
--John Andersen
Unconventional Ideas at http://www.unconventionalideas.com
carpet cleaning business. She is careful, detail-oriented, and very excited
about being entrusted with such an important job.
I still check her work, but visualize the time in the not too distant future
when she will be able to do it all on her own.
Decades ago when families had fewer material conveniences, less
discretionary income, and many more household tasks, it was possibly easier
to find real work for the children to do. Milking cows, mowing lawns,
churning butter, feeding animals, emptying chamber pots, mending fences--the
list went on and on.
And perhaps those children knew their effort was needed; that everyone in
the family depended on them. There was nothing "make-workish" about it. Not
surprisingly, many of them grew up with a solid work ethic, and became
self-reliant adults.
Children intuitively know when we give them important work. They often
respond positively to a gift of trust. They want to be involved in our
world; to do the jobs grown-ups do. We just have to spend the time to train
them, and then give them some real work.
These days, many parents struggle with trying to instill in their children a
good work ethic. They enroll their children in all manner of camps, classes,
and sports teams. They buy them the clothes, the toys, the cars, the college
tuition--everything they're "supposed" to have to fit in, and become
"successful" adults.
Yet if children don't learn to work when they're young, to be meticulous, to
care, and to be reliable, will all of the purchased advantages still ensure
they become true successes in life?
I have my doubts.
Certainly, it makes a lot of sense to give children big responsibility
early; to let them know the family truly depends on their efforts.
Bequeathing them such a gift may, in the long run, prove to be far more
significant than all of the material support we might shower them with over
the years.
And in the short run, at least in the Andersen family, now that Heidi is
learning the books, I get more time for surfing the Net.
--John Andersen
Unconventional Ideas at http://www.unconventionalideas.com