Work Ethic

My friend Kim had posted on facebook about getting her education from joining the military.  She ended with a masters degree.  And it was hard work.  It was her goal.  She set it and worked towards it.  Shows a great amount of work ethic.
And it got me thinking.  I have no idea how Dave and I raised three kids without work ethic.  At least not in any sense of the word as we used it.  Dave was the hardest working man I know.  When we first got married he was working 60 hour weeks to pay off all the bills he brought to our marriage from his first marriage. That and I highly suspect he didn't have the money gene like I do.  In fact he proved that after we got divorced.  If work wanted him to work, he did it.  He had a tremendous sense of work ethic.  And he never figured out how to balance his work ethic with family.  That's another reason he had me.  I was the planner and the maker of things happening for the family.  Good or bad.  I haven't always had a paycheck job, although I have more years with than without as an adult.  But I have always brought something to the table.  Babysitting, mowing, cleaning houses.  I'm not, nor have I ever just skated by with the minimum necessary.  I did, however have a sense of balance and introduced more play and fun into every day life.
If we had a task to do, we did it.  Timely.  We didn't sit around playing instead of doing things we were suppose to do. Playing is for when we have finished our jobs.  And so it goes.
Now all of our children watched this and yet not one of them followed suit.  Not that we expected our children to be just like us.  Just hoped they learned something from us.  Things are cheaper if you take care of them quickly and when they first present themselves.  Things don't get forgotten if they aren't procrastinated.  And I know about procrastination.....I went through a period of time when I did that and it always costed me.
So obviously just having work ethic and working for the things we need and want is not enough to teach.  This time around I need to do something different.  Think maybe we made it too easy on the first three.  They didn't have to work hard and they got paid for the small amount of work they did do.  I'm going to ponder it some more and hopefully come up with a new plan.  I don't want to raise anymore children to adulthood who think they don't have to work very hard at life.  I want them to work hard, play hard, create something.  Don't just skate by thinking life is just about playing. I want them to use their brains and their creativity.  I want them to have real goals and be able to work towards them.
All that said....and lest it be said...but I'm sitting on the computer blogging.  That isn't work.  Well it is for me.  It is my creative outlet.  And I spent the morning getting ready to be able to finish Dave's memory book.  And that is another post.