Eight Great Ways to Raise Strong Kids: Teach Your Child to Work Hard

This blog series is adapted from "Woman of Valor" written by Marilynn Chadwick. To download the full book, please go here. by Marilynn Chadwick Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for man. When our kids were younger, I made up a song based on Colossians 3:23 to help them remember this truth. We would sing it together all of the time. It was not just to remind them of these truths, but to remind me. I’ve had to learn some parenting lessons the hard way. I am not a naturally self-disciplined person. But I discovered early on that it was nearly impossible for me to take the kids beyond where I had gone myself. If I was undisciplined, it was hard to discipline them. If my schedule was inconsistent, it was hard to help them follow a schedule. If I quit before I reached the finish line, it was hard to teach them to persevere. When an airplane loses cabin pressure, we’re told to administer oxygen to ourselves before we give it to our child. There are some lessons we have to “administer to ourselves” before we can teach them to our children. Hard work is one of those. We always encouraged our children to see all work as honorable—whether it was waiting on tables, doing weekly chores, or even folding laundry. Sometimes I would point out those who appeared to be “working with all their heart,” like the guy who loaded up our groceries with an especially cheerful attitude.

Hard work is vastly underrated in today’s culture. We live in a culture that is easily distracted and chooses the path of least resistance more often than not. If you know me, you know how vital I think it is to talk about the importance of big dreams. But without plenty of hard work, they remain just dreams. What are some small habits that you can build into your everyday life that will be passed on to your children? Morning worship time? An afternoon walk? A time each day to practice gratitude? Daily time in your Bible? Ask God to show you small steps you can take to instill discipline into your life and watch as your kids learn the same.