by © John Watson

Different people going through the same experiences in life will each learn different lessons.

For instance, my dad was grown when the stock market crashed in 1929 and he made it through the dust bowl years as a farmer.  I guess the main lesson he learned from all this can be summed up in one word: frugality. He always taught me to be saving with my money, not to go into debt for anything that wasn't an absolute necessity and to do without until you could afford to pay cash for what you wanted.

I know of others just a little younger than myself whose parents were in their teens or pre-teens during the depression who had to go to work after school and in the summer, or maybe miss some school altogether, in order to help their parents get by. After these young people reached adulthood, got a good job and had families of their own, I have overheard many of them make the statement: "My child is not going to have to work like I did when I was growing up. Whatever he wants, he is going to get, he's not going to have to do without like I did."

Where did he think that he learned the work ethic to be able to hold a job?

He learned it from that work in his youth. I'm not advocating that young people should have to go to work to help the family, but I do think that they should have responsibilities around home and be given regular chores to do to earn an allowance, thus teaching them that they do not get their money gratis.

Dad always taught me that hard work, and learning to do without, will temper a person. To understand what this means consider a steel plowshare. One that has not been tempered is brittle and will break easily whenever it encounters a rock or root in the ground. However, a piece of well tempered steel is strong and hard and will be able to push the rock aside or to cut right through the root.

The same thing holds true for a person. A person who has been tempered to hard work in his youth and taught what it is like to have to do without some things will be better prepared to meet the challenges of adulthood than someone who has never had to work and has been given everything he wanted.

The youth need to be taught responsibility and be held accountable for their actions. This cannot be done at school, it has to start at home.

About the Author:
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Copyright © John Watson
John writes a weekly column for his hometown newspaper.   You may read some of his stories at: http://go.to/backfence You may contact John direct at: [email protected]