A few days ago my son, Zach, shared something with me that
goes right along with ‘theme’ of sharing with you the life-lessons he and his
sisters say they learned from me. This week’s lesson: Hard work never hurt anyone. Here’s what happened…
A worker was repairing the county water district’s broken
waterline that runs along some of Zach’s pasture. Zach and five year-old Macy
arrived to check the cows and Macy was driving the 4x4.
(For those of you who don’t know what a 4x4 is, it’s an ATV
with four wheels. You might know them as gators or pioneers. Or if you can’t
relate to that, think golf cart on steroids.) Anyway…
When Zach and Macy stopped to check on the status of the
waterline repair, the worker commented that he thought Macy was way too young
to be driving the 4x4. Zach smiled and assured the man that she was fine and
that they had the situation under control. This didn’t satisfy the guy, though,
and he continued to tell Zach why he thought she shouldn’t be doing that. Zach
then said, “I suppose you think she’d be better off inside watching television
or playing computer games.” The man replied that those things would be safer
and better than what she was doing.
At this point Zach told the man he didn’t agree—that he
thought the world could use a whole lot more kids on 4x4s instead of having so
many kids glued to a screen. He went on to let the man know that he was capable
of keeping his daughter safe, that they were making memories together and that
equally important was the fact that Macy was learning how to work. And then they
went back to doing the job they’d come to do.
A strong work-ethic was something we engraved on the hearts
and minds of our children. Our children had chores to do and they were expected
to help out on the farm. They were required to buy their own vehicles,
insurance, gas, and the ‘family plan’ portion of the cell phone bill. They also
worked to pay for their college educations.
Why? Because hard work never hurt anyone and when you work
for what you have you have a greater appreciation and respect for those things.
Learning the life-lesson of a strong work-ethic snuffs out the diseases of
entitlement and laziness—something I see all too often in the current
generation of young people.
Macy and her sister Mackenzie have chores to do and are expected
to help out on the farm just like their daddy and their aunts did. Why? Because
Zach knows hard work never hurt anyone and he wants to make sure his girls know
that, too.
I hope you will teach your children to know the same.
Love,
Momma D
Copyright 2016 Darla Noble. No part of this can be used or copied without permission from the author.
