Does it Always Have to Be Fun?

I have recently noticed something that I do not like. My family has a very strange idea of what working hard is. I have 3 boy ages 10, 6, 3 and a daughter who is only 1 year old. I have been trying for the past 3 years to establish a morning routine that encourages self reliance (Making ones bed, getting dressed, brushing teeth and hair). Needless to say I am still working on this. Of course, family work is also an important thing in my eyes. We don't live on a farm, we are not aloud to have chickens in our area so working on a clean house and yard is all I have for my growing children.

My husband (Who I love very much and he is a super awesome Daddy) has felt that I have the kids spending to much time working. It was about 2 hours every morning. Kitchen clean up after breakfast and four or five things to maintain a clean house. After lots of talking about this I finally relented to reducing the work time to 1 hour. Needless to say, my house is never clean and rarely even picked up. Its just not enough time. The kids complain that work isn't fun. Who said that it was supposed to be a bunch of fun to do house work.

Now don't get me wrong. I believe that work can be enjoyed and done with a happy heart but I feel that work is avoided in my home because it is not "fun." Its not a trip to the park, disneyland, a movie, sword fighting, bike riding, beach time, or trip to the ice cream shop. Work in my house is done with a time restraint (1 hour) instead of with the satisfaction of doing a good job and having a sense of accomplishment.

Today I ran across a great article and wanted to share it with all of you, and my husband. Work shouldn't be a bad thing.  Not everything has to be fun and it is not our job as parents to teach our kids to be seekers of fun. We are to be teaching them how to work hard in all they do. If we can accomplish that they will accomplish many great things in life and be truly fulfilled and not just seekers of fun.

Please take the time to read this great article Why We Are Taking The Fun Out of Life