Episode 230 Show Notes
How Can Parents Foster an Appreciation for Hard Work in Their Children?
From the Show
What can we do as parents to foster an appreciation for hard work in our children?
I think that is something that they learn in the family. I asked the kids this recently because my kids all work really hard and the kids are like, “Hey, you know, we saw Mom working really hard and we saw you working hard and we just thought that was what we do.” I think the practical question is how do they learn to handle money, because that, in a sense, is part of that question. And now when we are going out there and you don’t have a cradle to the grave job like the old corporations- I grew up north of Detroit and many of my colleagues worked at the auto industry and they were paid a very fine wage and they had everything taken care of; hospitalization, the retirement plan, etc. Now, that’s not the case. So, one of the things that Lucy and I did when we were young is we assigned tasks around the house which was the work part, and then we tied that to an allowance. So, we taught them at an early age, “okay, you’re going to earn this much money, this much goes into savings, and you give 10% to the church.” And then the rest of it was theirs to spend…. As the kids got older we made sure whenever we could and it was safe, that they got summer jobs, or odd jobs. And so they worked at Starbucks as a barista, right, so we’d always go down there and get our Starbucks, and my son worked at Baskin Robbins. I remember he came home from work his first week and he said, “Dad, I can’t believe how hard I have to work to just earn $5.” I thought what a great comment, right? I couldn’t have taught him that. — Mark Green
Questions in this Episode
1. What do you think is most important for parents in preparing kids for future work? How should our faith influence this?
2. What have you found most challenging about raising kids to be faithful Christians in the world?
3. I’m a truck driver from Ohio. As the tangible rewards of work such as buying a home, vacation, and retirement plans become more difficult with each passing generation what can we as parents do to foster an appreciation for hard work and diligence in our children?
4. How have you helped your kids discover what gifts and talents they’ve been given to serve others?
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