My husband brought home dinner last night, and to my utter amazement, I opened his dessert pan and found a burnt cookie staring me in the face.  My chocolate chip cookie was perfect, but his peanut butter cookie, which wasn’t a tad overcooked or a little charred on the edges, was scorched, incinerated, burnt almost to a crisp.  If you don’t believe me, just look at the cookie, commonly known as a Pizookie, in the photo above.

Of course, we were disappointed, even a bit angry.  And, I quickly called the manager to complain.  To his credit, he offered to bake us a new one, but since my husband drove 30-minutes just to pick up dinner for his famished wife we didn’t bother.  The manager was gracious, offered a heartfelt apology and refunded us for the price of both cookies.  He also said that the take-out staff were really busy and probably didn’t notice.  Excuses, excuses, excuses…but the product we received was wholly inexcusable.

After a bit of reflection I realized, this all boiled down to good old-fashioned work ethic.  When I look at that photo, I don’t envision an employee who cares about his job or the work that he’s doing.  Maybe it was due to the worker’s limited time, or perhaps indifference, or just plain laziness, but whatever the case, I’m convinced, poor work ethic was the underlying culprit.

It’s been said that good work ethic is on the decline in America.  And, if that’s true it’s no one’s fault but ours.  Yes, we have to be the change we want to see, but that change begins with teaching our children the foundation of a good work ethic.

Some Ideas We Can Teach Our Kids:

• Model Good Work Behavior.  Kids learn by example.  Do they see us doing our best to keep a tidy home or car?  Or, are they constantly seeing junk and things strewn out all over the floor, causing a tripping hazard?  If they’re used to watching us throw our clothes on the floor when we get home from work, they’ll grow up to throw their clothes on the floor as well.  Raising a child to have a good work ethic begins with having a good work ethic ourselves.
• Hold Them Accountable.  If our children are charged with picking up their puzzle pieces, for example, and we see those pieces thrown in a box with a different puzzle, all mixed up, then we should call our little ones out on it and have them separate the pieces.  Children don’t usually do what’s expected, they do what’s inspected.  Take the time and care to follow up on your child’s tasks.  Compliment them on a job well done.  This will teach them to take pride in what they do, and not just rush to get an assignment completed.
• Give Them Chores.  They can be simple chores for smaller kids like, putting their toys in the toy box; turning the TV off; filling the pet’s food dish; or, wiping up spills.  For older kids we might have them, make up their bed; empty the wastebaskets; sweep the floors; or, water the flowers.  The key is to ensure they are striving to do a good job, while teaching them to take pride in a job well done.  Don’t insist on perfection, but demand excellence.  Praise them early and often, and be consistent; either the chores are done or appropriate consequences will follow.

Maybe I can’t do anything about the employee who displayed poor work ethic when making my husband’s peanut butter cookie, but thankfully I can do something in my own home to contribute to ensuring my kids value any job they chose to do. 

If you have more suggestions on instilling work ethic in children please feel free to leave it in the comments section below.

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