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Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Children Are the Future: 7 Ways to Build Work Ethic in Kids

Photo by Vox Efx (Flickr)

The importance of being a hard worker is something that simply can't be underestimated. Whether it's through completing chores around the house or even helping to take care of the pets, there are plenty of great (and also fun!) ways to instill a strong work ethic in your children. It all has to start at home, too, when they're young, so that they have a foundation for themselves and they progress further and grow as an individual.

With my kids, I've also tried to put an emphasis on making daily, household, and sometimes boring chores as fun as I could. Face it: Children want to have fun as much as they can. While there isn't always time for actual play, other activities and duties can definitely be made enjoyable.

Here are seven ways to build a good work ethic in your kids.

  1. Let Them Explore: Simply put, don't hold back, and allow your children to explore their own individual interests and passions. It's much easier to work hard on something when they can fully enjoy it. That way, they'll give it their full attention and do the best job that they can do. This is a great way to ease them into learning about what it takes to have great work ethic.
  2. Let Them Play: Don't ever forget to allow an adequate amount of playtime for your kids. Through play, they will learn more about themselves, what they're capable of, and what their passions are, and it will also help them build better communication skills. All of these elements are part of what goes into hard work.
  3. Time for Chores: Households chores and hard work are certainly related. One way that I got my children excited about doing work around the house was by giving them incentives. Whether it was through some kind of reward or by way of additional playtime, the kids would get excited and motivated to help out around the house, and as we know, chores are a great way of teaching kids about what goes into hard work.
  4. Consider Volunteering: It's also important for your children to learn about what it's like to put in hard, valuable work without receiving any kind of pay. One great way to do this is through volunteering. There are plenty of great charities and causes that are worth checking out, no matter where you're located.
  5. Make Chores Fun: Believe it or not, some chores can be turned into games, which will make them more fun that you may have originally thought. Try something as simple as singing while you work; my kids and I do this, and it even makes doing the dishes a good time!
  6. Don't Always Provide Protection: It's important that children learn from a very young age that it's OK to fail and that it will happen from time to time but they need to pick themselves back up and get back at it. This is one big part of hard work: It won't always be easy, and there's a reason it's called hard work.
  7. Patience is a Virtue: It sounds like a cliché, but patience and hard work have a direct relationship with one another. One of the best things that you can teach your children is that hard work does pay off, but it's not always instant. They need to keep at it and continue to put forth their full effort, and the results will eventually come.

In what ways do you work to build work ethic in your children? As always, we want to hear from you, so let us know what you think about this in the comments section below!

Find more about the author: Kim Hart

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