LawnBoy and Responsibility

Responsibility is a tough lesson to teach. It’s an even harder lesson to learn. We’re all learning. It’s a two steps forward, two steps back and cha cha kind of dance. Or perhaps it’s a Hokey Pokey. Either way, today Crash mowed the neighbor’s yard.

The Reasons:

* He likes to help others

* He told her he would mow it

* He might get paid

* His Dad made him keep his word

He’s strong enough to start the mower on his own. He’s also strong enough to push it. Those are two key components of being able to mow a yard. A little hard work never killed anyone. It was also something he could take pride in. The before and after were as plain as the freckles on his nose on his face. Our kind neighbor did pay afterward. Hopefully it’s a reward that will keep him doing it all summer.

Will this responsibility help teach him to be responsible in other aspects of his life? One can hope. Perhaps not enough to pick his laundry up off the floor or bring his shoes in from outside. But perhaps he’ll see there are rewards for hard work. If you take pride in your work, you do a job and you do well because it’s intrinsic, not because you’ll get paid for it. Getting paid is good, too, though.

I love hard work. I could watch being done all day long.

Isn’t the reason we had kids was so they could help us with chores? That’s why farmers have big families. They have more chores than us non-farmers. We teach them to clean up after themselves. We teach them to cook and make a bed and pee IN the toilet instead of ON the toilet. Responsibility is a big word.

How do you teach it?