Work Day

A few times a week, at our evening meal, we read a chapter from the book, "Created for Work". It's a great book that encourages young people be hard workers, get their hands dirty, follow directions, think creatively, respect authority, and happily complete their duties in a timely manner. Our goal is to train our boys (and girl) to think the right way about work, be hard workers, and do it without complaining. So, we try to consistently expect our children to do age appropriate work that contributes to the needs of the family. Our general philosophy on work and children is that they will not get paid for their work. We are working towards instilling in them that doing the work is not about getting money in return it's about doing their part to keep the family and our day running properly. We tell them all the time that no one pays Dad to mow the lawn or fix things that are broken and no one pays Mom when the toilets need to be cleaned, clothes need to be washed, and dinner needs to be cooked. Neither should they expect to be paid to take out the trash, make their beds, and pick up their toys. 

However, there are some jobs that we put in the above and beyond category that require an unusual amount of time, diligence, and effort to complete. The picture above was a pile of weeds that Aaron had pulled from the front yard.

Martin, Jonathan, and Rosalie spent a couple of hours collecting gumballs out of our back yard and putting them in bags.

Aaron spent about 6-7 hours pulling weeds out of our front yard.  He did half of it one day, and the other half the next day. He did not want to quit until he was done, but had to eat dinner and get to baseball practice. I was so proud of his hard work and determination to get the job done!

Rosalie worked at a considerably slower rate at collecting the gum balls than the other two boys did, so when they were done with their bags ... they helped little sister with hers.
It was a good day(s) of hard work!