I have a confession to make. We put our daughter to work when she was about eighteen months old. Worse yet, I think you should put your child to work, too. Now before you start researching child labor laws, hang with me for a moment.
We don’t talk about it in churches much these days, but God actually has quite a bit to say about work. From the Garden of Eden, when God immediately put Adam to work (Genesis 2:15) to the letters written by Paul, it is obvious God expects us to work. In fact, the most impactful verse may just be in Colossians 3:23, where Paul tells us to work as if we are working for the Lord and not for men.
Recently, several parents have mentioned they don’t believe in consequences for young children who disobey. Evidently, everyone under the age of thirty took a vote and decided consequences were old fashioned and made children angry. Unfortunately, they forgot to check the ultimate book of godly wisdom – Proverbs, before voting. I am not referring to the infamous “spare the rod, spoil the child” verse (which by the way is a misquote – see Proverbs 13:24). Even if you ignore that particular verse, Proverbs is filled with admonitions for young people to embrace correction and reproof as a way to grow and become wise and godly.
Just when I think I have heard of every possible career, I see something like this. Who knew there was such a thing as geese police? Part of the fun of having a child is helping them explore all of the possibilities for future careers. Don’t just limit yourselves to the standard doctors, lawyers, business people and teachers. Check out books on fun careers. Read biographies with your children about people with unusual career paths. Take your child to watch people at work in all sorts of places.
We are in the middle of roommate mania in our house. Our daughter is headed to college in August and is in the process of choosing a roommate. Evidently, a lot has changed in the roommate selection process since I was in college. Student housing is no longer randomly assigned (Although I am pretty sure “social experiment” was the process at my school.). Instead the students are put through a matchmaking process so they know if potential roommates are a 100% match or merely a 50% match. Supposedly, this results in very happy roommates, who become friends for life.