Teaching a Work Ethic to an iPod Generation
June 19, 2013I’ve lived in my current home for six years. From the day we moved in, the water dispenser built in to the refrigerator door has not worked very well—the water just kind of trickles out—so unless you like standing in front of the refrigerator for two minutes waiting for a glass of water, it doesn’t get used. On top of that, the ice maker recently stopped making ice. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I went online and looked into the problem to see if it would be an easy fix.
As it turns out, both of these problems are fairly common and fortunately, fairly simple to fix. But, as usually happens, attempting to fix one problem usually creates another. When I attempted to shut off the water to the refrigerator, the shut-off valve started to leak so now I had water dripping under the kitchen sink. So there I am, refrigerator pulled away from the wall, tools sprawled all over the floor and everything under the kitchen sink pulled out, and all while my wife is attempting to make dinner. Oh joy!
I grab my 13-year old son and head for Home Depot. I figured this would be a good learning experience for him so as we made our way to the handyman’s superstore, I explained how the refrigerator worked, what the problem was, and what we were going to Home Depot for in order to fix the problem. It was my son’s response that inspired this post. He said, “Why don’t you just buy a new refrigerator?”
You got to love how teachable moments just have a way of landing in your lap, and I could not resist the opportunity to explain to my son how expensive a new refrigerator would be versus how relatively inexpensive the repair would be. It all made perfectly good sense to me, but from his perspective, it just seemed like a lot of wasted time, energy, and frustration. What my son was really asking was: is it worth it?
As a parent, I feel it is my responsibility to prepare my children for the day they have to make it in this world on their own. It concerns me that my kids may not fully appreciate the value of elbow grease, so here is what I plan to do about it:
1. Teach my kids the value of a dollar by making them earn it!
Nothing teaches kids how to appreciate a dollar more than hard work, and there is no better time to put kids to work than in the summer. When they are not busy with sports, camps, or other activities, encourage them to work in the yard cutting grass, pulling weeds, or spreading mulch. They can also foster their entrepreneurial spirit by selling lemonade, or babysitting, or walking dogs. Have them help you at work such as filing papers, doing data entry, or writing a blog post. The point is to get them to do something other than watching cartoons or playing on their iPods. (For more ideas, see Summer Jobs for Your Kids.)
2. Make them buy their own stuff.
Several years ago, I bought the family a Wii gaming system, and within a year, the kids had managed to break all four Wii remotes. Last year, my niece received an iPod for her birthday, and within a week, she dropped it and cracked the glass. It seems kids are not very careful when handling things they haven’t paid for, so when my two oldest boys started nagging me for iPods, I said sure, but with one caveat: they had to pay for them with their own money. Each had to wait for Christmas and birthday money to come in, but once they had enough, they bought their own iPods, along with protective skins. Needless to say, neither has put a scratch on them since their purchase.
3. Get them involved in projects around the home, especially repairs.
Trust me. The refrigerator is not the only thing that will need to be fixed this year. I need to fix the steps on our front porch, I have a pipe that is leaking in the garage, and I would like to install a ceiling fan. It would be easy to call a carpenter, plumber, or electrician to take care of these things, and in some instances that’s the right thing to do, but with so much information available at your fingertips, I believe it’s easier now more than ever to handle DIY projects. The trick is showing the kids how to read an owner’s manual, combined with how to look stuff up on the Internet.
4. Get them involved in community outreach
At the heart of the matter is my desire to help these children appreciate what they have because I believe God wants us to be good stewards of the things He’s blessed us with, and not everyone in the world is as fortunate as we are. That’s why I’m encouraging my junior and senior high school children to get involved in community outreach though organizations like Habitat for Humanity and Christian Community Outreach Ministries (CCOM).
Hard work is not only virtuous, but in some cases, it’s a necessity. Helping our children to see the value in it will not only save them money, but keep them grounded—something I suspect they’re not learning from their iPod.