Interesting read.
We hear how kids in school are coddled nowadays, with everything from banning “dangerous” games such as dodgeball, to teachers not being allowed to give a failing grade to a student, to emphasis on self esteem.
We hear how some kids sports play the games but don’t keep score, so as not to hurt the self esteem of the losing team.
We hear how some kids sports give a trophy to everyone for participating, and don’t give awards to those who actually achieved something. Again, this is done to allegedly not hurt the feelings or self esteem of those who didn’t qualify based on merit for an honor.
Kids are coddled in different ways, and then, are completely shocked when they go to work, and find a boss who expects them to do actual work in a manner in which instructed, expects them to show up on time for work, expects them to do messy or less desirable tasks which are part of the job, and expects them to do the work and not bitch about it.
I wondered (worried?) about how to instill a strong work ethic in our kids when there isn’t much “real work” apart from chores in their lives. I recently received confirmation that the older boys get it. Our oldest was promoted to shift manager at a restaurant at the age of 15. His quieter 14 year old brother works at the same place. The 14 yr old vented to me after work about how frustrating it is to work with lazy people. Rarely does this boy get worked up, but he was on a roll about how he can’t stand lazy people.
When they were little we pulled them out of youth sports for a few years because they were so far from aggressive that we knew they were developing bad wrestling habits. Now-they are hard working, aggressive and strong athletes. I can’t believe how my laid back 9th grader plays football. He moves fast and hits hard! I had feared for years they might be soft and lazy young men. Thankfully, that is not so.
All of this took years of effort from my husband, taking them along to job sites where they did the low skill dirty work for a small payment (big to a ten year old, though!). I also pointed out over and over that we are created for work-God gave Adam work in Eden before the fall. Work is not punishment.