Work

Last week when we went to church with Alex and the boys, the "sermon" was about teaching our kids to work. The gentleman that was speaking had some interesting stories to tell. One of which was- every Saturday morning there would be a note taped in his room, from his mom, with his list of chores for that day. Some times the list was longer than others, but there was always a list. His main point, that he discovered, was that his best option was just to get the list done as quickly as possible so he could do other things. As I have been thinking about the word "WORK" this week. Both as it relates to our own work and also in teaching our children to work. When we think of the word "WORK" do we only think of difficult, physical tasks, like yard work, cleaning the house, or the list of chores that we don't especially enjoy doing? Do our kids only see the "chore list" as unfun things that they are required to do- make the bed, clean up their room, take out the trash, etc? Or can work be fun? Is "WORK" something we do to earn money? Are the words "WORK" and "JOB" describing the same thing? Is our job still work, if we love what we are doing or have a passion for what we are doing? Or is it work, if we only go every day, because we have to- for the money? Do we have to have a job in order to learn how to work?

I had a couple of interesting days at my store this week. (During the summer, we never know what to expect there. Some days not even one customer comes in, other days, people are in there all day long. There is not a specific pattern as to what days will be busy, it's just random) Thursday was one of the days, when we had people in the store all day long. We didn't have huge sales, but customers shopping and trying things on. I told Ron it was a full day of "gab" for me. Lots of customer service and conversation. Does that count as "WORK"?

Of course to answer one of my previous questions- no we don't always get paid for work. We do alot of "WORK" for no compensation, so pay does not define "WORK". But most of us equate our job that we do to earn a living as "WORK". Ron always figures that when I am at my job, I'm not out spending the money that he is at his job working for. :) :)

To answer another of my previous questions-- our kids didn't exactly learn how to "WORK" by doing chores at home. Most of their work ethic was acquired through athletics. Because of their commitment to a particular sport or team they learned to "show up" whether they felt like it or not. They learned to practice hard things, whether they felt like it or not. They learned to be at "the game" even when it wasn't convenient. They learned to do whatever the coach (boss) told them and to do it to the best of their ability. They learned how to be part of a team and to do their part. Those kinds of learned traits apply to all types of work. Whether it be "work for free", "work for money", or "work for fun". I think those are the real attributes to be taught to our children. I was recently looking at a list of things that build trust and a list of things that hinder trust. I realized that many of those attributes are part of the benefits of teaching "WORK" to our children. While I don't want to give the entire lists, here are few of words describing "trust builders"- honesty, reliability, encouraging, fairness, patient, forgiving, leads by example, well organized, accountable, nonjudgmental. Versus, things that create "distrust"- inconsistent, unreliable, criticism, dishonesty, disloyalty, unorganized, unprepared.

So... I don't know if I have come up with just lots of questions and not much answers, maybe just rambling, but at least I'm thinking :) I guess one of my bottom lines is that teaching our kids "WORK" doesn't mean just that dreaded list of chores- work can be fun. Work can be service opportunities. Work can be sports activities. The characteristics we are hoping to teach and build are not found in the task it's self, but in the process.