THE BEST thing DH and I did as parents was to not pay for driving insurance for our 3 DD's. They had to work if they wanted to drive, so they all got entry level jobs at 16yo. Now almost all in their 30's, all gainfully employed and all have great work ethic.
Youngest DD, atty, is constantly in contact with people whose first job is right out of law school, and they do things like leaving early on a Friday, or calling in sick and not prepping their files for the other attys who have to cover for them, or just being sloppy. The new asst PD (not her office) would sit in his office playing solitaire to pass the time. If you don't know, SA's and PD's normally come to court with stacks of files and not enough time to get it all done in a 40 hr work. My DD often comes in on Sundays, or stays until dinnertime to keep up.
Still, she finally said that God gave her the job and not to worry about it anymore.
All 3 DD's insist that everybody ought to work retail (like they did) around the holidays and they would know how to treat people better if they did.
, same here, if our 3 wanted something they had to work for it, it took awhile for the boys smarts to kick in but their sister got a job at a fast food place while still going to school. What is it with boys, sigh, at this time dad wouldn't even let the boys borrow our car. Hubby got DD a safe driving course, she bought and paid off her first car in one year, she now is part owner of one of the biggest marine businesses on the island.
The boys on the other hand both quit school, one joined the navy and made a career of it, 30 years. Stuck on an army base in Manitoba his last year he took his grade 12 for something to do, how many 47 year olds do you know graduate and retire in the same week. He doesn't have to but still works, only now he can pick and choose at what he wants to do. He's had some interesting ones like on the ice roads that service the diamond mines. One of the First Nation girls made him a beautiful pair of moccasins, I have to hunt it out but will come back and put it here if I can find it, They are really beautiful.
We are so proud of all of them but have to say the one I'm the proudest of is our oldest, after a rough start in life the light bulb came on and he was off and running, he knew he had to have his grade twelve to get anywhere, a very smart guy but even he said it was work getting his grade 12 after being away from it so long. He worked his way up ending up with a top level job in one of the government controlled sections. Now retired he and his partner spend 6 months in Canada, the warm ones
, they own a condo in Palm Springs spending six months there and usually spend January in Mexico, have to follow the heat you know.
Their father and I are both high school dropouts, for different reasons but we've worked hard for what we have, not much in some peoples eyes but we're very content with what we do have and... so proud of our kids and what they have achieved.
Unfortunately most but (I do have to admit) not all children handed things on a silver platter don't and never will appreciate what they've been given, never develop decent work habits and end up whining about how bad life is treating them. It's always someone else's fault, and unfortunately end up on that slippery slope to nothingness. So much potential pi$$ed down the drain, so very, very, sad
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Reading back on what I have just typed I see I'm still agile enough to climb up on my soapbox yet again
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Annette
