WSJ: "Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho: How Can I Teach My Kids to Enjoy Work?"
leno...@yahoo.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121935843910061763.html
You can respond to the WSJ or post comments at Hart's blog.
First paragraph:
By TONY WOODLIEF
August 22, 2008; Page W13
"Recently our family moved from the suburbs to 20 wooded acres in the
country. This is not because I have a deep love for nature, which is
where God keeps the snakes and poison ivy. We moved because of an old-
fashioned sense that our four boys will benefit from hard work.
Perhaps it was too many passes by videogame display cases crowded by
overweight mouth-breathers. Or seeing the glacial pace of slump-
shouldered teenagers corralling carts at the grocery store. Whatever
the impetus, my wife and I concluded that living where there are
fields to mow, trees to cut, predators to kill, equipment to maintain
and adventures to pursue would be good for our children..........."
(some very interesting political discussion follows)
And last paragraph:
"Perhaps too many children fail to value work because their parents
fail to shepherd them into a world where work can be meaningful. So
maybe I should just shut up and get to working with a smile on my own
face. As is so often the case when raising children, the qualities we
want them to possess must first be cultivated in ourselves."
I definitely agree with: "Perhaps too many children fail to value work
because their parents fail to shepherd them into a world where work
can be meaningful." If parents looked for more ways to show kids how
what they learn in school can be useful in the real world, or showed
them how rewarding learning to cook well can be, or, last but not
least, how much they really have when they do volunteer work for the
homeless (such as "Habitat for Humanity"), maybe kids would be less
surly about work in general.
But I would hope most parents would have the sense NOT to pay kids for
doing their own share of the chores. What's going to happen when they
move out and find the dishes still pile up anyway?
Lenona.
Al Bundy
First, I have no special background or expertise in this area. I have
observed some things along the way though. All my life I have heard
that you should make kids work for things and not give them too much.
There's even a book out named something like that. "Don't give your
kids too much." What I have seen is that at least in many cases, it
works just the opposite. Kids that are given all kinds of things early
like the games, computers, TVs and even cars, want to continue that
lifestyle for themselves. If the parents demonstrate that they have to
produce on their own to have these things later, those kids can work
hard at school, go to college and be very successful early. They have
high aspirations and will accept nothing less than success. Other kids
that are given nothing tend to work only to a certain level and be
happy with a lower living standard.
Bill Gates was not an overweight mouth-breather. I don't think he did
many dishes or cut the lawn either.
jtno...@yahoo.com
>
> - Show quoted text -
My parents were children of the Depression, laziness was not
tolerated. Spending money had to be earned, and too much TV time led
to a suspension of the priviledge. Failure to do chores led to
consequences, and lying, cheating, and stealing would be paid with
corporal punishment and a public apology with restitution to the
victim. We were sent outdoors to play, and made to ride bicycles and
walk rather than be chauffered around (a practical thing in S.
California). I thank God for parents like that.-Jitney
leno...@yahoo.com
Yes, well, how do you do that efficiently?
Seems to me just having cable TV and ONE computer in the house should
be sufficient. That is, kids don't need their own private bedroom
electronics to be living the upper-middle-class lifestyle - and if
they DID have their own, they'd just take them with them when they
moved! That doesn't sound like a way to inspire a strong work ethic.
Lenona.
Rod Speed
More fool you.
> That is, kids don't need their own private bedroom
> electronics to be living the upper-middle-class lifestyle
They dont even need bedrooms if it comes to that.
> - and if they DID have their own, they'd just take them with them when
> they moved! That doesn't sound like a way to inspire a strong work ethic.
Yeah, much better to make them slave in salt mines and whip them every day.