Work and Rewards

There was a recent Ensign article about work. I read it. And I read it again. And I felt guilty. Work? Sure, I work. I do a lot of work and I usually have a good attitude about it. My sweet husband works as well. I was incredibly impressed with him back when we were newlyweds (I still am, too!) and he graduated BYU. He had to wait a semester for me to graduate, and he took a job cleaning carpets. I looked at him and wondered why on earth a college grad would take a carpet cleaning job! And I realized he took it so he could support us. He wasn't too proud to do whatever job he could get. And in Provo, there's not a lot of jobs, other than the menial variety. I am impressed to have a man who will take what work he can and do it with pride to support his family. He never complained about cleaning carpets, either.

My parents taught me to work. They made me work when I was a kid, and I don't mind the menial labor jobs. There really is satisfaction in doing your job well, be it making cookies at the Brick Oven, or mopping the floors of the hospital. Yes, I actually enjoyed being housekeeping staff at the hospital. I worked 9pm-2am, cleaning bathrooms and other things. I didn't mind it at all. I minded the politics and other things, but the work was fine.

So, having read this article, I felt guilty. I am not doing very well on teaching my children to work. Its so much easier to do it myself. I don't mind doing it myself, either. To make it tougher, I'm not sure HOW to teach them to work. I know there are chores to do and rooms to clean, but how to make that a lesson in working because we need to, because it has to be done, and it can be done with a joyful heart? That's what I'm struggling with.

This week the messy house was a bit overwhelming, and after the girls knocked over the Christmas tree, Dan decided it was time to do something about it. So half the house was sparkly clean. I decided the kids needed some serious room-cleaning, and today I told them it was time. I told them what I expected and I told them that if all that got done, we could have an ice cream sundae party. The jumped to it with great delight. They stripped the sheets from their beds, picked up toys, emptied the trash, organized stuffed animals, and put the laundry away. There were no complaints and they all worked together with glee. It was wonderful!

My concern is, does this sort of reward/bribe teach them to work, or merely teach them that they need a reward to do work? It was wonderful to have it all done with a cheerful attitude, but will that translate to real-world situations? This mom stuff is hard sometimes.

But the ice cream sundaes were delicious!