A work ethic was mandated in my family by my maternal grandparents - there was little time for slacking, it was your job to be productive in one way or another, and (as mentioned in another thread), if another Great Depression came along, the only thing which kept you from starvation was your job. This was the central message of my childhood, repeated daily every summer: Work or starve.
I can honestly testify that my “work” life began at the age of four, working with my grandparents on their rental homes in Daytona Beach, FL, during our yearly 4-6-week vacation with my mothers parents (my mother passed away when I was 1, so her parents got the 4 grandkids during the summer, in groups of 2. This went until the age of 14 when I got a summer job by forging my work certificate. See below.)
What can a 4yo do? Well: Pull weeds, squish bugs, shake small carpets, hold the dust pan, spray and wipe (Windex/Lysol/Pledge), more, on a daily basis from Mon-Friday. We did that for a year or two, then they bought the campground/mobile home park, and that’s when the work really started. Sod laying, fence building, clearing out the sewage treatment plant, installing mobile homes (from the ages of 7-14 I was used to squeeze under these things and install the electric, cable TV, and… when I was big and strong enough… the sewage and water connections). This was every day, from 8am-3, 4pm, M-F, and we got paid a quarter an hour (which went into savings, which we got when we were 18).
When I was 14, a northeaster blew in and destroyed the seawall, necessitating a rebuild. My uncle was a civil engineer (and part-owner of the park) so he designed a seawall (did a fantastic job too) and lined up the contractors to pour concrete, etc. The design necessitated the building of wooden frames to hold galvanized rods (used to anchor the concrete), and someone needed to be in the “pit” - one was dug every 50 feet for over 1,500 feet of shoreline to make sure the rods didn’t shift as the concrete was being poured. My job was to:
- Build the frames
- Be in the pit, during summer when the temperature was easily 110 degrees down in those holes.
We got the fucker built, it’s still standing (top-right picture - click on it for a bigger view), though the sand is much higher on the water breaks than it was in 1981.
The next summer I got a job at an ice cream parlor and, though I was 14, it was the easiest summer job I’ve had in 10 years. We had to get a permit through our school to allow us to work if we were 15, and not allowed to work at the age of 14, but I forged my birthdate and handed the certificate to the Vice Principal when he had 4 other people asking him for shit, so he just signed it w/o looking at it. I was finally free!
And through this, all four of us (my siblings and myself) also developed an appreciation for work, saving, etc. And I’ve done the same for my daughter, but with revisions. When she was 9yo, we went on a trip to Jersey to visit my wife’s family, and we took some time to go to Princeton while there. And while there, I told Sophia that “everyone in our family has their job to do - mine is to earn money, mom’s was to organize the family, and your job, Sophia, is to get an education. And I want you to aim for Princeton, possibly the smartest university on the planet, even though it’s very likely you won’t get in - but you’ll get into UCLA*, or SMU, or Duke. But, point is, your job is to work on your education and we expect you to take it seriously, and will work with you so that this happens.”
And she has! Straight-A student, leads an active student club dedicated to assisting animals, gets nervous if she doesn’t study, has earned money multiple ways (jobs, door-to-door sales, spontaneous bake sales) - we’ve worked with her on developing the habits and the ethic to get this done.
So I firmly believe in the value of installing a work ethic, and ensuring that children are meeting productive standards one way or another. My grandparents way was a product of who they were and their experiences (raising two babies in the Depression was easily the defining experience of their marriage), and I’ve taken the same attitude but broadened it to more than “make money & save” (though Sophia is great at that, too.)
*Sophia has always loved Los Angeles.