When I was 8 years old, I began babysitting. I was a very responsible 8 year old, having already been well-trained to help take care for my two younger brothers. Within a few years, I was cleaning houses, taking care of pets, etc. I loved it. I loved the responsibility more than the money. I also preferred being around adults, rather than other children my own age. I was very neat, clean, organized, loved to make “lists.” I was always doing some kind of odd job for someone, and by the time I was 17, I landed a job as an assistant to a CPA. And that’s when I realized my true love. Numbers. Today, I run my own bookkeeping business, and my love of numbers is still just as passionate. But enough about me.

Growing up, none of my friends worked, nor did my brothers. If they were asked for help, they complained. They weren’t what I’d call lazy, they just didn’t want to do anything that was called “work.” Children today are much the same way. They don’t want to do anything labeled as “work.” They’d rather play their games, chat on their computers, talk on their cell phones, listen to their music, or, just do nothing. Sometimes, it’s a different story when money enters the equation, though. Ears will perk up. Eyes will widen. And then the eyes squint and the inevitable is asked. “How much?” No decision is made until that question is answered.

I have two children. My daughter is 21 and has a child. She works. Not because she has to, but because she wants to. She’s been working since she was 15 years old. I never asked her to get a job. She wanted spending money of her own, and she set out to get it. At the age of 17, she was making more money than I was! The point is, though, my daughter had the ambition to get out there and do something on her own. To “work.”

My son is 13. He has three part-time jobs, and was just offered another one. Some may say that 13 is rather young to be working so much, but he loves it. He’s not required to do it, he wants to do it. I’ve received flack from a few people about my son working… he’s too young; you’re taking away his childhood; what are you teaching him?… for the record, my son still plays with his friends every day. He still sits in front of the computer, chatting. He still plays his X-Box… until all hours of the night. He still, very much so, is living out his childhood. And yes, we still spend time together as mother and son.

I’m very proud of my children and their work ethics. I don’t know if I taught them, with my own ethics, or if it’s because of their own ambitions that have brought them to where they are today, but I am proud. Not many of my children’s friends work. Truthfully, many of them are what I would call lazy. Which is sad, because when it’s their time to go out into “the real world,” it won’t be easy. Often times, though, I’ve heard adults actually discourage children from working (like my examples in the above paragraph). The most common used phrase is, “After you graduate high school, you’ll be working for the rest of your life. Why do you want to start now?” To learn some real responsibility before I actually get “out there?” That would be a good answer, I think. But, to each his own.