I’m over on Keeper Of the Home this week talking about How to Instill a Strong Work Ethic in Children From a Young Age. Here’s a snippet from my post:
My parents wanted their children to leave home with three things: a deep love for God, integrity, and a strong work ethic. They were so motivated to teach us the value of hard work that they set a goal to move out to the country by the time we were in our early teens.
With much prayer and effort, their goal was realized. And boy did we learn how to work! I have fond and not-so-fond memories of lots of back-breaking work: gardening for hours on end, dragging hoses all over the acreage to water the new trees we had planted, and spending much of the day on Friday taking care of the seven acres of the land that were planted in grass.
Truth be told, I wasn’t always so thrilled at all the work they expected us to do. Sweating in the heat and developing sore muscles on a regular basis weren’t necessarily what I’d consider fun. But looking back, I’m so thankful for the character I developed through all those hours of laboring in the hot Kansas sun.
The lessons in diligence and perseverance have been invaluable to me as a wife, mom, and business owner today. Truly, I believe one of the greatest gifts my parents gave me was instilling in me a strong work ethic from an early age.
By the way, in case you wonder what Silas is doing in the picture above: he’s helping me grind wheat in our grain mill. 🙂
hope64 says
The motto in our house, “If you can toddle, you can tote.” It’s not original to me, but I love it! Since our children were capable of walking they have understood that they are an important part of how our home functions and we depend on their help. Also, the older ones have gotten the privilege of training the younger ones on various tasks. This has given them a real sense of importance and responsibility. Okay, our daily “happy helper” snack breaks have helped too! Grin!
Hope
Angie says
I’d love to hear more about your upbringing and how your parent’s plans turned out!
Andrea says
“not-so-fond members of lots of back-breaking work”
There’s a typo there!
Crystal says
Whoops! Thanks for catching that! 🙂