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I feel it is very important to teach our children how to work hard. Kids need to learn the importance of working for what they want and solving problems on their own.

When I grew up, I was the oldest daughter. There were 3 girls and 1 boy (the baby of the family). My dad was a General Contractor and a Rancher. He needed help, so he taught me how to help him. As a 12 year old, I was driving and using a backhoe, cutting brick, mixing mortar for laying brick, hod tending while my dad laid rock, spreading gravel for foundations, laying sod, building barb wire fences and so many more jobs. It was hard work, and I wasn’t always the most pleasant about doing it, but I am so grateful that my dad taught me how to work hard.

Here are some tips to help your kids learn how to work hard:

1. Don’t worry about the time it takes to teach them. It WILL take you longer to finish the task, but it will be worth it.
2. DON’T TAKE OVER! This is a very important tip! It is so easy to take over and just do it yourself. However, if you take over, they learn very quickly that if they do it wrong or slowly, you’ll just do it. Show them that no matter how long it takes, they have to do it.
3. Make them finish it to the end! This ties into the tip above… Don’t have them do most of it and them tell them you’ll finish it. It is so good for kids to learn that they need to start AND finish the task.
4. They WILL get frustrated! But don’t you get frustrated! Even if inside you are going crazy, don’t show them.
5. Start young! My 2 year old loves to work! It is good for them to learn at a young age that it is ok to work. Include your kids no matter what age.
6. Make a big deal out of it! This goes for the beginning of the task and the end of the task. Show them that you NEED them. If they feel needed, they will be more willing to learn. After they finish the task, make a huge deal by saying things like, “Look at what you did!” That was a hard job and you did awesome!” “I know you’re tired, but you did such a great job!”
7. Don’t underestimate your kid! They can do really hard things. My two year old helped move and spread gravel this last spring.
8. Give them tools that they can use. We were moving gravel from a dump trailer to a play area with wheelbarrows and 4 wheelers. There was no way that my kids would have been able to use those tools. We had kid wheelbarrows that were perfect! My kids were really excited to use them because they felt like they were accomplishing something. A word of advice: make sure they are sturdy tools. Don’t use the flimsy plastic ones. Making it more real life for your kids will make them feel like they are contributing and making a difference.

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These 8 tips will help your children become hard workers. It not only teaches them to embrace hard work, but it teaches them that they can do hard things. It also teaches them to solve problems on their own.