Teaching Children Job Skills--All in a Day’s Work 7/26/2006 8:00:53 AM
Teena Rose is a columnist, public speaker, and certified/published resume writer
http://www.resumebycprw.com with Resume to Referral. She’s authored several books, including 20-Minute Cover Letter Fixer, How to Design, Write, and Compile a Quality Brag Book, and Cracking the Code to Pharmaceutical Sales.
Noted Harvard psychiatrist and author George E. Vaillant has written about human development for the last 40 years, providing groundbreaking analysis by following a number of subjects throughout certain periods of life. As part of one such study, Vaillant emphasized how critical learning the value of work is for children and how it manifests itself in adulthood.
Vaillant’s study took 465 boys and followed them into middle age. The researcher, who has spent his career charting adult development and the recovery process, concluded that the children who had outside jobs or household chores ended up happier as adults, with better relationships, higher-paying jobs, and a stronger foundation to cope with problems. The study is at the core of why parents should teach children why work is important, not only for society, but for personal development.
Experts on child psychology and human development emphasize that, from a very early age, children should be taught to work on a level they can understand. The first level children understand is concerning their own possessions. Understanding the value of a toy or doll is at the basis of what young children relate to. Taking care of a possession sets the foundation of personal responsibility, which later translates into working on simple tasks around the home, then a part-time job, and finally, a career as an adult.
Since children learn from observation and example, this form of indirect teaching is recommended when dealing with work education. Sharing experiences on the job and talking at home about the benefits and satisfaction of working are lessons children will soak up. The rewards – and sometimes the frustrations and failures – on the job can carve out a clearer picture that instill the proper mentoring and coaching children require.
The “Take Our Daughters And Sons to Work” program established in 2003 is a tool that has received wide acclaim, providing an enriching educational experience for children. When children see that parents can be faced with numerous and complex challenges that may interfere with their lives, they can begin to understand what the workplace is about and envision their future.
In the same vein, since money and work go hand-in-hand, its value can’t be overlooked at a time when teaching about work is taking place. Most adults base their attitudes toward money on what they learned as children or what their economic situation was. Similar to the work values, it’s necessary for parents to establish a consistent pattern for teaching children about money.
Whether it’s work or money, a job at the office, or one as an entrepreneur, children gain a tremendous amount of self-esteem when they learn that life won’t cater to their needs and that their livelihoods as adults will be among the most important factors for a bright future.
