40% of teens not interested in hard work

[Lakumi]

Tithing

I knew the LDS church did that ... but I never knew what it was called...now I know.

[applepansy]

My kids know how to work hard.... all of them. That is one thing we were able to teach them. Part of the reason was we didn't give them an allowance. If they wanted spending money they had to earn it. There was a cost to this that I didn't understand at the time.

My sister decided a kid's job was school. So she didn't pay allowance but she paid for grades. She didn't pay for a B or even an A-. Only and A. Then she paid them $10 for every A. Chores around the house were something you did because you wanted a warm bed, food on the table, clothes to wear and a room over your head.

My kids are hard workers but struggled in school. Her kids are hard workers with fantastic grades. Two of them will probably be going to medical school.

I think how we taught out kids to be hard workers was by example. They learned to work because that's what we did.

[talisyn]

I wanted my oldest daughter to know money skills early so I started her on a $5 allowance at age 6 (I think). She learned pretty fast that that was the only amount she'd get and she had to factor in taxes At that age I didn't tie in any special jobs . As she got older I'd increase the amount, and add job requirements. Right now her job is to clean (including vacuuming) my car. She has the choice to do the work and get paid or not do the work and go without her own personal money, just like anyone else with a job except she doesn't get fired lol. She's old enough now to decide if she wants to work or not, but she is getting a good lesson on financial independence ('Mom, can you buy this *whatever* for me?' ' Clean my car.' *deep sigh*).

My youngest will also get an allowance at the right time, in the same way for the most part.

[Traveler]

I thought I would respond to raising un-entitled children willing to work.

My father and mother devised the best method I have ever seen. I will begin by saying that my father and mother were very wealthy (multimillionaires). My father came from rather humble beginnings growing up in a 3 bedroom home with 13 siblings and my mother came from a more wealthy family (owned orchards, bees, chickens and all kinds of other things that needed taking care of) with 8 siblings.

My parents decided to not use their wealth raising their children. I grew up in a modest 3 bedroom 1 bath home with a rented basement apartment. We raised chickens both for eggs and eating. We also raised rabbits for eating. Our yard was lined with fruit trees - the fruit was canned for year round use. We hunted (and butchered our own meet) and fished for other meet - eating beef was rare. I shared a bedroom with a single bed with two brothers. We sleep parallel on the bed with our feet hanging over. In the winter I wore two pairs of wool socks (that were used only for sleeping).

We had chores at home taking care of our garden, animals, fruit trees, yard and home. At the age of 8 we were expected to get jobs outside the home and earn money. The money we earned paid for our clothing and our share of family vacations before we could purchase fun stuff. We were also expected to help neighbors (for free) and work on the church welfare farms (every week). We did not get anything for good grades in school but if we did not get straight A's and glowing reports from our teachers (I seldom had glowing reports) we were punished - usually having to do dishes or laundry or other stuff for mom.

But non of us worked harder than Mom and Dad. Dad worked full time at his job and owned real estate. Most of his nights were spent repairing something somewhere - If we went with him he would pay us to help him. Working for my dad was much harder than working for anyone else.

I discovered that what most others considered hard work - I thought was relatively easy. It was always harder working with dad. What most people call dead end jobs - I though were the easy jobs growing up. But then I always thought work that made you sweat was a good thing. Work was what our family did most of the time we were together. Even after I was married - If my father ever visited he was always up early and out in our yard doing something by time I got up. Most people I work with think I am a hard worker but I was the laziest in my family. My mom still kids me about being lazy.

The Traveler