Teach kids how to work

As much as we like to promote family board games, we also realize that life isn’t all fun and games. Spending your time just playing games all day won’t amount to a very fulfilling life. And as parents, our job is to help our kids lead a productive and fulfilling life.

That’s why one of our most important roles as parents is to teach our kids to value work.

Not just teaching that work has a value (such as being paid for your work hours) but that Work should be one of their key Values in life.

Most of us are inherently lazy. We would rather play than work. We would rather loaf than work. A little play and a little loafing are good. But it is work that spells the difference in the life of a man or woman. It is stretching our minds and utilizing the skills of our hands that lifts us from mediocrity.  – Gordon B. Hinckley

But how do we teach such a value?

It’s not a simple answer and every parent will have to find their own way with each child. Since every child is unique, the way they’ll learn the value of work will be unique as well. All we can do is share some of the things we try to do with our kids.

Share Your Work
If you’re following our reviews and posts, you may have noticed longer times in between posts recently. Part of that is because of our various other activities. But most of it is because of my recent workload. Being on the road for business this last week doesn’t leave much time for updating our site. And when I finally make it home, I’m going to spend my time enjoying time with my family rather than writing about it.

But one of the by-products of occasional time away from home for work can also help teach the importance of work in our lives. There are times when work will require extra effort and extra hours. And it’s good for our kids to see the efforts we put in to providing for our family.

Talking with them about our work is a good way for them to understand the effort involved. But it’s not just our words. When they hear us talk about our work, they also pick up on our attitudes. If all our talk of work is with a negative tone, they’ll get the sense that work is evil. And that won’t help instill values at all.

Instead, share the elements that you like about your work. Then ask them what aspects of your work they might enjoy. It’s a great way for them to get ideas about what they might like to do for a career.

Work Together

Another way to teach the value of work is to make sure that children contribute to home operations. From a very young age, kids can be expected to take part in keeping the house in order.

Like many parents, we’ve tried a number of different methods for family chores. Some have worked better than others. And adjusting for the development of each child needs to taken into account.

One thing we found out that makes chores tough is piling them all into Saturday. Essentially letting kids coast through the week and then piling on hours of chores on Saturday never turned out to be fun for anyone.

The way things have gone smoother is when chores are maintained on a regular basis and just become part of daily life. The daily checklists are great. Sure Saturday may get a few extra chores in the stack, but it won’t be as overwhelming as when things pile up.

Another element of successful chores for the kids is to work alongside them. Just sending them off to tackle their list while you do something else doesn’t seem to be as effective either. Make it a social occasion and use the time to talk about anything they’d like. Working together and spending that time in conversation can be a great reward in an of itself.

Or simply turn up the music to get some energy flowing in the room. Snow White had it right – whistling while you work is a great boost.

Don’t Forget the Rewards

If we’re working together and talking about the things we’ve accomplished it’s good to point out the joy we feel when we get a job done. Even if it’s as simple as a freshly cleaned mirror or swept floor, take time to sincerely praise. That boost will punctuate the joyful feeling.

You can also throw in an fun reward once in a while. Like this past Saturday when all the boys had “Play Descent” as one of their chores. Sure it was listed as a chore, but we all looked forward to making sure that we couldn’t call the day complete without letting the three heroes take out dad in another Descent encounter.

Playing board games together is a lot more fun when we know the work is done!