Work Ethic

A work ethic is developed long before our kids fill out thier first job application. It begins when they are taught to clean up their toys when they are a toddler, when they learn to wait their turn in preschool, and when they are taught that attendance in school is just as important as their academics. It is learned when you become part of a sports team or a girl scout troop and have to interact and cooperate with others. Parents don't realize it but they are often their child's greatest influence when it comes to their work ethic. It doesn't matter if you are born into wealth or poverty. It is important to teach our children that they should work hard for things whether it be grades, athletics, or material things they should do their best and take pride in their labor because that is true accomplishment. We don't realize it but if we moan and groan about our job, or boast about how much money we make our children are listening. They see how we value our job and what our work attitude is and somehow it creeps into the very fiber of their being. Today we have a tendency to want our children to have so much more than we did and often times we  'over compensate' in helping them to acquire abundance.  We not only help them with their homework - we DO IT FOR THEM, if they don't feel like doing something like pick up after themselves - WE DO IT FOR THEM, if they don't take the time to make sure they have all of their belongings, school books, sports equipment  and something is forgotten- we drop what we are doing and RUN IT TO THEM,  if they break, misplace, destroy or loose their cell phone, ipad, ipod - we just buy them a NEW one, if they don't feel like going to school - We call them off SICK and then let them play on xbox all  day, and what is even more sad is, when our child is disciplined in school - we blame someone else, we challenge the teacher or we make excuses. Obviously, we overcompensate out of love and with good intentions, but as the saying goes - the road to hell is paved with good intentions. What are we teaching our children today. What kind of work ethic are we instilling in our children. They are learning that they can have whatever they want regardless of the cost, at any price, whenever they want it without any consequence. It seems more and more that we are eliminating words from our vocabularly like NO, work for it, you're grounded, you did wrong......our children are not really experiencing life in the truest sense - which includes the good and the BAD. They don't learn to do without, they don't learn disappointment, they don't learn to face challenges, they don't learn that not everybody is a winner but that's okay, they don't learn that sometimes life isn't fair but you have to go on and endure. What an injustice. No wonder we have so many suicides and shootings amoung our youth today.  They don't know what to do if they don't get what they want and things don't go their way. Our  'over compensation' has sheltered them and ultimately prevented them from developing the coping skills and work ethic necessary to face adversity and difficulty, to prosper and grow and find their way independently.  I think its time for parents to think about how important that WORK ETHIC really is and how early on it begins to develop.