Work

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Eleanore Roosevelt once said, “The surest way to make life hard for children is to make it easy for them.”

“We ask for the garbage to be taken out.  Three times, while we are cooking and cleaning and doing other things, we ask.  When the can fills to overflowing we ask a fourth time.  Then we take it out ourselves in an angry huff.  We get to the curb, are ready to swing that bulging sack away when reality hits.  So we drag the garbage back inside and storm, “You take this out.”  A disgruntled and baffled teenager asks, “Didn’t you just take it out?”  “Yes. But I brought it back.”  “Why?” “Because I’m not taking out garbage – I’m raising righteous, responsible adults.” (Toni Sorenson, The Measure of a Mother’s Heart, pg 12.)

The highest reward for man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it – Unknown

To do nothing is the most tiresome job – you can never stop to rest.

I love work it fascinates me.  I can sit and look at it for hours. – Jerome K. Jerome

Work is one of the most unpopular four letter words. “Hard work never killed a man, but it sure scared a lot of them.” 

We must come to the point in our lives where we thank our Father in Heaven for the blessing of work we GET to do rather than complain about the work we HAVE to do. 

Perspiration and inspiration are inseparable companions.

Men become great by doing things they don’t want to do when they don’t want to do them.

Privilege to work is a gift.  Power to work is a blessing.  Love of work is success.

David O. McKay

There are three kinds of people – those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who have no idea what has happened. – Mary Kay Ash

That which we persist in doing becomes easy to do; not that the nature of the thing has changed, but our power to do it has increased. – Heber J. Grant

When teaching our children to work, it is important to give simple instructions.  Clearly state the job to be done.  Let them know how you would like it done – perhaps with a specific checklist.  The first time a new job is assigned, you will probably need to walk them through it so there aren’t any questions.  Teach them to take pride in their work. Tell them the time it needs to be completed and set the timer if necessary.  Let them know the positive consequence for getting it done or the negative consequence for not getting it done.  Then don’t say a word!  Get out of the way. Don’t nag them, or bribe them, or give them reminders. Just go about your business.  Let the consequences do the teaching. I can’t overemphasize that enough.  When I first tried this, it was nearly impossible.  I was so used to saying, “Hurry, you only have 15 minutes left.  Don’t get distracted – keep going!”  I didn’t want them to suffer a negative consequence.

There is an important principle I learned in a “Parenting with Love and Logic” class: Two people cannot take responsibility for the same thing at the same time.   If I take responsibility for my children’s chores, they will not need to. The more I do the less they will do. I need to back off and let the chores be my children’s responsibility.  It took me years to learn to shut my mouth. But I can tell you that the results were amazing.   Obviously, you will need to be consistent with the consequences in order for this to work. And you will need to be very patient.  Ask yourself every once in a while, “ What is my purpose?  Is it to have a perfectly clean house or to teach my children to work?”- Shannon Williams

Our message to our children at any age is not “You’re appreciated when you help out.  It would be nice if you could pitch in.”  A more appropriate message would be “You are a vital part of this family’s economic system.  We need you.  We depend on you.”

A contemporary of President Wilford Woodruff observed: “He loved work, not alone for its own sake, but because it was associated with divine command. Nor was it to him merely a means of getting on in the world, of adding conveniences and comfort to his own life as well as to those dependent upon him; to him it was a blessing, a privilege, an opportunity which he always availed himself of whenever his calling would permit. … To sweat, was a divine command as much so as to pray; and in his life he exemplified in the highest degree that simple Christian life that makes for the physical, mental, and moral well-being of man. He believed sincerely in the moral supremacy of manual toil. He loved it and enjoyed it.”

J. Reuben Clark once said, “The Lord knew that from the crucible of work emerges the hard core of character.”