Leaving A Legacy of Work Ethic

One of the Legacies I find myself very passionate about is Work Ethic.  Something desperately wrong has happened to the youth of today.  It's called low expectations on the parts of parents and the fulfillment of those low expectations by their children.  Isaac and I went to a seminar years ago called the Household of Strength by Gregg Harris, where he talked about this concept in great depth.  As Isaac and I sat there listening we were getting fired up, because we had so many conversations about this exact issue.  We had decided years ago that we want to Leave a Legacy of strong work ethic which ultimately comes from having a vision for what you are accomplishing and an innate drive to compel you to take action and get it done.
I personally believe that work ethic is not something that is taught, it is caught... just like the love for reading, compassion, and so much more.

In order to teach work ethic, well you need to have some yourself, right???

Proverbs 21:25-26 says this:

"The desire of a lazy man kills him.  For his hands refuse to labor.  He covets greedily all day long, But the righteous gives and does not spare."

So what are some practical ways we like to practically teach work ethic?  

Well we don't give allowance.  Personal preference here, but we feel that the kids are part of a family unit, a team.  If we all make a mess, then we all work diligently to get the mess picked up and then we can all enjoy the next activity together.  We have taught our children that in life God gives us the gifts of "jurisdictions" in our life and as we show him (and our parents) we are "responsible" with little, we are then given greater responsibilities.  With greater responsibilities comes greater privileges.  What are some privilege's???  Staying up a little later is one example.  Now, don't get me wrong... we desire our children to understand how to handle money wisely (another post), so we do have extra chores they can do to make a little Dough!  $$$

One Tolpin Family Motto is this:  

"Work Hard, Play Hard"

The Motto is all fine and dandy, but your kids needs to see you work.  

Practice what you preach... don't just have them do our weeding... go outside and weed with them. We pay $.01 per weed with roots and certain days I surprise the kids with double days or double hour and they can make more.  I find that the kids are eager to get there "responsibilities finished if they know they can look forward to earning money  by doing the extra jobs.  

Leaving a Legacy of Purposefully Working Hard & with the Right Attitude

If I grumble and complain while I do the dishes, how can I expect my children to do it with any better of an attitude.  We have to be modeling the right heart attitudes and teaching them the "Reasons behind WHY we do these things."