Developing a Work Ethic
June 26th, 2008 | Filed under: Life
Now that summer is here and the children are out of school, you see kids everywhere. We were at the mall the other day and the place was packed. There were grandmothers, mothers, and children everywhere I looked. I was amazed and said so. My daughter looked at me and said “It’s what families do in the summer!”
Well let me tell you, it’s not what my family did in the summer. At least not while my older brother and I were growing up. My father grew up on a farm, the youngest in his family. That youngest position sometimes means easy but not in my dad’s family. The farm setting meant everyone worked hard. And he wanted us to learn to work as well. Since we didn’t have a farm he invented work.
Every summer for about 5 years running, my brother and I would move a pile of rocks from one part of our 1 acre property to another part of it. We used a wheelbarrow that was made of steel with an iron wheel. It was heavy. When we were smaller it would take both of us to lift the handles and move it along.
This was our summer job. I don’t mean we didn’t play and have fun but the rock moving was something that had to be completed during our school vacation time. We were the only kids in the neighborhood that were trained up this way. Every day we spent some time on the rock pile job. By the way, we did not get paid any money but we did have a house to sleep in, food to eat, and clothes to wear. We never dreamed of getting paid!
And how did this work out for us? Well, I personally never used this technique with our children. In fact I have been known to leave rocks I find in my flower gardens for accent. But I can start a project and finish it no matter how boring. All in all it was an unusual but effective way to learn about something we all have to do- work.