Teaching Your Child To Work

One of the greatest gifts a parent can give their child is the ability and the tenacity to work. There is an old saying that “it’s a lazy parent who does everything for their child.” This includes all but the youngest babies, the most seriously disabled or ill. Work is one of the ways children learn efficacy. Efficacy is an important component of resilience and is an important factor in overcoming stress.

When children are young, they are often anxious to help their parents. Unfortunately many see this as too much bother; however, there are many things even young children can do in moderation as long as it is safe.

My oldest son was fascinated by the vacuum. We didn’t take advantage of this by making him vacuum the whole house; but we did let him, from a young age vacuum small parts of the house (even if someone had to go over the same area again at a later time when he wasn’t around).

Children also need to be taught to do things on their own and for themselves even when they do not want to. Even fairly young children can learn to put away their toys and even some of their clothes. Work can be fun and it can be done cooperatively with other family members to increase family unity and responsibility.

Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.
Thomas A. Edison

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
Theodore Roosevelt

Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all.
Sam Ewing

Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.
Anne Frank

Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.
Booker T. Washington

Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them.
Ann Landers

Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.
Peter Drucker

The harder I work, the luckier I get.
Samuel Goldwyn

The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.
Harry Golden

"All true Work is sacred; in all true Work, were it but but hand-labour, there is something of divineness.  Labor, wide as the Earth, has it's summit in Heaven."
Thomas Carlyle

Supplemental Material:
Teach Your Child to Work Hard Without Complaining

Teaching Children To Work without Complaining!!!

Teach Your Kids Work Ethic

Bad Parenting -- Why Americans Need To Toughen Up