No easy way.

"Don't handicap your children by making their lives easy."  -  Robert A. Heinlein

I think my parents believed that line a little too much.  Yes, I had a very good childhood.  Then something happened.  I became old enough to hold a broom.

I see too many kids (basically teenagers) today that want for nothing, and earn nothing.  What they have is simply handed to them, making their lives easy.  All it is doing is setting them up for a difficult life later.  Parents give the excuse that "school their job."  That's doo-doo.  My siblings and I had no such luxury.

At the time, I hated doing chores.  Let's face it, I still don't like them very much.  Now of course, it is not called a "chore," and all husbands know this.  It is now called a "honey-do."  Some wife somewhere gave it a fancy name to make it sound better in order to trick her husband to doing work on his day off when he should be watching a ball game.  

As much as I disliked chores, they were a necessary evil in our house.  As soon as we were able, we had things to do.  Dishes, garbage, dusting, vacuuming, and doing laundry.  No matter what it was, we had to get it done.  I am the oldest of four kids.  There was no clean house.  Our house was what was politely known as having a "lived in" look.  That's what visitors called it anyway.  That basically meant that there was generally some things laying around and our house was never sparkling clean.  Three boys in the house.  You think we had anything clean for more than several hours?

As I said, we had work to do.  We cooked, cleaned, and did laundry.  After all, we were manual laborers working off our debt to our parents for the expense of bringing us into the world.  I think my youngest brother is still working off his balance.  I think my three children already owe me about $100,000.  Guess what they will be doing soon.  

The whole time I was being put to work I just thought of it as punishment for something I may or may not have done.  Actually, I was being taught something.  I was being taught the value of work.  My ingenious parents were actually not handing me a life, but helping me earn one.  Whoa.  That was one of the best lessons I learned growing up.  Rest assured, my children will learn it too.  My children will not grow up spoiled and expect everything to be handed to them.  I won't make their lives so easy when they are younger that it will be extremely difficult when they become adults.  Now, don't think I will be standing over them with a whip forcing them to hand wash my socks over a rock or anything.  I simply mean that my children will develop a good work ethic and learn what it is to earn something.


So, I will be thinking of ways for my children to re-pay their debt to Ashley and I, and am in need of ideas.  Let me know if you have anything new and innovative, and legal.