I’m going to start a new series called, How to Work It Out. We all know that character and a good work ethic is important, but how to go about practically living that out is sometimes hard to figure out. With this series I’d like to spotlight some parents that are (or have finished) equipping their children with opportunities and skills to become strong, capable adults.
I want to start with a family that I know personally and I’ve seen how they walk their talk. Scott and Robin White have made it a priority in their parenting to teach their children responsibility and diligence. They are also encouraging an entrepreneurial spirit, which will reap lifelong rewards! The Whites are the parents of 8 happy children.
Around here we believe in our boys working and working hard. Three out of our four boys have jobs that put a little jingle in their pocket. Tucker,14, cuts grass and weed eats. He takes care of all of our animals on the farm, orders chickens, and is in charge of the feed for the rest of the animals. A lot rests on his ability to be
responsible. We taught him these things and we expect him to be a working asset to our family.
When he does things for our farm he does not get paid. We have the mind set that if you live here you do your part. He has a side job of mowing grass and yard work in which he gets paid. This week he has been bartering with family friends. Our friend Brock Ray (who has a hunting radio show and hunting DVDs) is having a cinematography school in which men from all across the nation come and learn from the best how to have their own video business. It’s 5 days of intense learning and Tucker is doing yard work for Brock in exchange for the classes. He is being taught lighting, how to video weddings and anything outdoors. They teach him how to start a business from the ground up.
This is huge for a 14 year old guy. The Lord has given Tucker a unique love for cameras and electronics. We stress the importance of Tucker having a job that will allow him to be at home with his family as much as possible and have him learning things that he can pass down to his children. So this is an opportunity that the Lord has given Tucker to put him on a path of providing for his family.
Cooper is eight. We expect Cooper to work hard and he does.
He helped his dad cement fence post just this past weekend. He loves getting dirty and he loves working along side his dad.His brother is teaching him about the farm and the jobs that will be passed down to him. He has a small rabbit manure business in which he sells buckets of manure for 5 dollars. (In case you didn’t know, rabbit manure is incredible for your garden.)
Cullen is five.
He has a small money making job of gathering eggs for his grandmother and walking them 1/2 mile to her house. Cullen is in the early part of his training but he is learning from his brothers
that this is just a way of life.
Every Friday Scott takes a different child to work with him for half of a day.He starts with the oldest and works his way down to the youngest.They have to carry bags for him and learn to talk to the customers. This is not always very convenient for Scott but he is determined to have the kids with him as much as possible. Teaching them any chance he gets that Men have to work. They have to be about the business of taking care of their families.
We say this to them over and over and over. One of my favorite things to ask Cullen is “Cullen, why are you here?” I’m here to serve mom!
It’s our job as parents to equip them with the tools to do this job well. We are all here to serve.
My boys need to be taught that, Lord willing, one day they will have a wife and children who will need them to provide for them.
The boys aren’t the only ones who have an extra job.
Taylor, our (almost!)17 year old, works for her dad two days a week by calling his customers and taking orders over the phone. She is learning to bless her father by honoring him as she talks to his customers.
We are teaching her that someday she will honor her husband and work for him. We as parents have to be diligent in finding ways for our children to learn to work and work with the attitude of service.
The things we are doing with our children were not set in our lap, we sought these things out intentionally and made sacrifices to make them happen.
This is not always an easy road. We are constantly training our children in attitude and disciplining them when needed. Our children have to see us work hard and be about our work with a good attitude.
They will not learn to serve well if we are not serving well (ask me how I know this)?
Thank you Robin for letting us take a peek into your family.
Diana says:
This is a wonderful post and I found it very helpful. My dh and I have been struggling for a while now with how to teach our children a good work ethic and what it really looks like to work alongside them. We have a hard time figuring out what they should do and how much. We only live on less than a fifth of an acre so we dont have a lot of the big work someone else might have. We did not have any good role models and are really late in the game with this. Our older kids have bad attitudes about work becausew we thought kids should be kids and go play with toys etc while the adults work (UGH). Our 4yr old is the hardest working and we have been encouraging him to work hard since he was a wee one. Anyway, I really look forward to these inspiring posts and peeks at how other families do things. Thank you!
Leslie from VA says:
Thank you for letting me meet Robin! I think I will send this to Jeff as an advertisement for May???
You are blessed, Kathy, to have wonderful friends like the White family.
Kim M says:
Enjoyed this!
Kathy says:
I am VERY VERY blessed, no doubt! I actually know dozens of families like the Whites.
robin says:
We’re the ones blessed. Living next to Jeff and Kathy.
God has used them in our lives over and over again.
Robin
Leslie from VA says:
Kathy,
Please pass along to Robin that the testimony of their children and Scott and Robin’s diligent parenting were such a testimony to Jeff that he REALLY did google how many miles and hours it would take to get to Alabama!
Thanks for sharing about these special people in your life!
Lisa says:
What a blessing to hear of families that work together. It is always neat to hear how others are doing it. I look forward to more on this subject and sharing it with our family. I admit we have allowed our now 5 year old to get away with not doing as much as our 8 children above him and it is showing. We were just talking about making changes in his responsibilities. To his defensive he has been begging us to give him jobs the older ones have been doing.
Thank you for inspiring others!