Outworked 4 teenage boys...

[WetBehindtheEar]

He wants a cell phone...

I'm only just getting started with my kids (4 & 2) but I think of these things often. I don't want them to grow up not knowing the value of a dollar (hell, $5 anymore) or a hard day's work.

I know that the cell phone question is going to come up - and I think my deal with the kids is going to be they get a cell phone when they get a job.

 

[Hedgerow]

Probably a good idea...

 

[K5krawler]

This is coming from a young guy who fits in with the "generation gap" 25 right here and still lives at home. When I was younger, I never wanted to help dad with the firewood because the work was always too tough, heavy, cold, rainy, snowy, etc. Plus I never got to do anything fun like run the log splitter or drive dads truck through the field. I got yelled at for not putting wood in the truck fast enough or helping out and holding the wedge for dad while he tapped it in.

Now fast forward 13 yrs or so and I now own more saws than the old man, not hard when he has two lol! I will go out of my way to pick up wood for him, have hauled wood to the house if I am working a job doing side work, cut everything and anything that is in our yard or the neighbors, and I don't think he's had a good day of cutting in probably 5+ years! He helps me stack and do some splitting but now I have taken over the majority of the work and I can see the fruits of my labor when it's 90* in the family room and I am sitting there nice and comfy. I will say it took me eagle scout, 4 years of college, and the fire dept. to become who I am now today. Just coming from a younger buck I think it's all how we the younger kids interact with our friends. If my friends are into bonfire and camping out in the woods you sure bet that's what I'll be doing. Same goes if they are into computers.

 

[indiansprings]

My kids sure haven't suffered from material things, when I was in the business world and traveling 15-22 days a month I spoiled them with material **** because I wasn't home. Thank goodness I finally woke ip and realized family is more important than money. Regardless if you believe in church, the principle the teach there are good traits to have. I've took mine, as often as possible. My wife has been very supportive in that we decided to limit them to no more than two hours a week on video games from day one. We monitored it very closely, now days we don't even have to keep track it became a habit that they follow themselves. I've always let my kids try whatever they feel like their big enough to do (with supervision). My oldest wanted to weld we he was about 10, we got some flat scrap, some granny 7014 rod and bought and extra helmet and I taught him how to do it safely and he's become quite the fabricator. A lot of it has to do with trusting your kid, letting them do the fun stuff, not just the mundane crap. Luckily I live in a very rural area on a farm, shoot they've all been driving since they could see over the dash and touch the pedals ( on the farm). Too many people won't let the kids do anything for fear of being hurt, luckily I had parents that let me spread my wings.
All the youngster's aren't too bad, think of all the young people serving in the military, the best and brightest military we've ever had imho, much better than when I first went in the service over 30 years ago.

Hedge it sure looks like you have your son on the right track, you have to involve them in everything you can. As soon as it cools off, I'm taking mine down to where I grew up in Mac County to fish for small mouth for a few days, camping out on the creek. I grew up on a mile of creek frontage, I'm gonna show them the ole man still has it when it comes to catching the big ones, got a few tricks up the sleeve.

 

[mayhem100]

Its been said here already but it bears repeating.

Lazy kids ALWAYS have enabling parents. The only reason these kids don't want to do anything hard is because they have never had a reason to do so...alot of parents of my generation (I'm 40) are over protective and tend to do WAY too much FOR thier kids and never think about it. Kids haven't changed from when we were all young...but the adults around them are more often doing more for the kids.

It can start VERY young too. Case in point, my wife's cousin has a daughter. He and his wife dote on the kid...she fusses and they're right there to comfort her. She points and they get up and get whatever it is she wants. Net result? At age 4 she had not yet learned to crawl or speak. Very concerned, almost frantic..."whats wrong with our baby" kind of situation. This is, all the kids needs and even simple desires were met by them 24x7...she had zero motivation to move around on her own or to try to communicate more effectively than the cat. They got a speech therapist and an early intervention therapist and all this hoopla and then I point out that the kid doesn't go to day care or anything and both mom and dad are running all her errands for her...they stopped getting all her toys for her and suddenly within a couple weeks the kid is forming works, crawling around and now walking everywhere.

Kids gotta learn to do for themselves or they'll expect you to do it all for them. I don't have that kind of time.

 

[CrappieKeith]

Growing up we had fun with 5 sisters and a brother. Mom & dad had good jobs ,but mom had a second to afford our cabin up north. When we needed clothes we got the basics from Wards or Sears. If we wanted the designer jeans or the Addias tennis shoes we had to earn the extra $$$ over and above what dad was going to give us to buy the basics.My bro & I ran a trap line twice a day. We mowed,racked and did whatever other odd job we could find.

When my kids got to an age that they could work...they did....and when they wanted those "extras" they got them. Then learned the value of working.Many parents would ask for my kids to come over to spend time with their kids because of the good influence. I recall one time I brought my boy over to his buddies. While there I was talking to his buddies dad. Well the guy says to his son to hoof some wood into the cellar. My boy starts walking over to the pile to hoof the wood and he calls out to his friend...hey Tommy..c'mon ...your dad said to hoof this wood into the cellar as Tommy was heading the other direction to go do something else.I kinda chuckled inside to see my boy in action.

It does come down to what the kids are taught and I for one was tough ,but fair. My boy was on Facebook bs'ing with his buddies. A few complained about being broke and my boy say's...if ya knew how to get a job maybe you'd have a few bucks in your pocket...good thing my Dad was tough on me..I get it now he says...he's 24 by the way....sorta brought a tear to my eye to hear he get's it.

 

[jags]

I converted a very small, old lawn mower ("Falls" if anybody remembers them) to an electric, with a small trailer for the grandsons. This allowed me to engineer several safety switches into the system. These boys are 2 and 3 years old. Yep we do real yard work with that thing. Picking up sticks, hauling dirt to fill holes, etc. But they also get to play and ride around on it (adult supervised). They love it.

I figured I would start them early, cuz its gonna be an uphill battle. Their momma is laaayzeee (my other half's daughter)

 

[Semi-Hex]

I'm involved in scouting and I get to see first hand how kids how lazy kids are getting. I do have to put some of the blame on the parents though I have to say the kids are not being helped by anyone. (schools, churches and etc). It is scary that some of the kids don't know how to hold a shovel let alone use one.
I do admit too that the parents don't know how to hold a shovel either.

 

[bowtechmadman]

I have 2 daughters 10 and 5, and they don't have cell phones. I really have a hard time when a friend of mine complains about his son and daughter about how lazy they are and how they are always texting or on the internet. Gee who let's them on the internet and who pays for the phone? Parents in my opinion have enabled the laziness. Make the kid pay for his own phone and just maybe they will work.

 

[Constrictor]

I'm 31 and my brother is 23. He helps me sometimes and he's really well built. Very muscular. I'm a string bean and 3" taller than him. I out work him in my sleep. To top it off, I've got a crappy heart too and I had two surgeries last summer..

What Brother?

 

[Hddnis]

I'm a foreman for a construction company. I make decent money per hour and also get a percentage of each job and of profit on each job. Not bad money as far as work goes. I was working late on a shop we were building a guy and he says to his 18yo son "You need to get a job and learn to work as hard as Mr. HE." The son says "Dad, I'm not going to be some minimum wage construction laborer." His dad just shook his head and walked inside. Sons buddies all laughed with the son.

Couple of days ago I stop by to say hi to the guy and he tells me he's had it with a son that thinks he's so smart he doesn't have to work. So he cut off his allowence and told him he had thirty days to move out. At first the kid told him he couldn't do it. Now the kid is scrambling to find a friend he can move in with. I guess dad meant it.



Mr. HE

 

[smokinj]

While I've been clearing our land I've generated a ton of firewood. I have hauled 75% of it myself. Going to be selling off the good stuff shortly, but I have a ton of poplar and basswood to get rid of. Neighbor mom tells me her kid (HS senior next year) wants a lot of wood for bonfires for he
and his friends. OK, let's rock. I get 4 of them and one half ton short bed to go along with my 8' long bed 3/4ton. OK, we'll make a couple runs. Boys, I outworked the 4 of these yahoos, and I'M SLOW. It felt like I was working with recalcitrant zombies. "NO brains here, just lift basswood" If I wanted to hurt them, I would have pointed to the oak... Wow that was a sad display. Is this the generational "Kids these days don't know how good they've got it?" or what?

BTW, anyone is the East Twin Cities (Mpls/St Paul) metro wants some firewood, contact me. No I ain't giving it away, but I am reasonable.

DONT BLAME IT ON THE BOYS.......Lol At 16 I was smart enough to watch someone else work to....That would not happen on my watch!

 

[fearofpavement]

This has been an interesting thread regarding the lack of work ethic in today's youth. Kids will do what their parents let them. Ours have always had restrictions on tv, computer and gaming time and so forth. None of my kids had their own phone until they went off to college. Daughter was valedictorian of her class but when it was time to load or unload firewood she put on her gloves and helped. Willingly? no but that's where parenting comes in. She is attending a private university on a full ride scholarship. Kid #2 followed his sister as valedictorian and is exactly halfway through cadet basic training at West Point. Kid three will be a high school junior this year and he is one of the rare kids in his class that has calluses somewhere other than on his thumbs. He is the other half of our small tree service company. So kids will work if they're made to work and once they learn how it will prepare them for life's struggles. Children won't die from sweat and sore muscles and an ipod and smart phone are not required to succeed. Teach your kids that hard work builds character and not only that, it'll get them in shape without a gym membership. time to split some wood!

 

[Maplekid]

I'm 14 and I agree with you. Kids are lazy. Parents are usuly the ones that cause that. I want this or I want that and they get it. All they toys I have I worked for and paid for with my own cash like my dirtbike. I like in a town and half of it is $700,000 plus houses and the other half is city scum. There either on welfare and letting the gov pay for everything or there parents have well paying jobs and give them what ever they want. Me and two other kids in my grade are the only ones that work. Me and my best friend don't have gym memberships but were some of the strongest kids in our grade. While everyone else is playing #### we work. Our dads sound like Indiansprings. We run everything from chainsaws to excavators that can lift up a truck. I've gone on jobs with my dad and out worked 20 year olds because they were lazy. My dad has a hard time finding good grunt workers anymore. They are either lazy as a day is long or unreliable. This week most kids will be in air conditioning. I'm gonna get up At 5:00 and work till it hits 90 then come in and sleep durring the hottest part of the day And do inside stuff then go back out at night and work some more. People thing the gov is bad now. Wait till my Generation is running it. It's going to be worse if it doesn't colapse by then.

 

[AIM]

I'm a contractor and every year for about the last 10 I've hired one or two kids for summer help. Some are good but some are just plain slow and lazy.
The funny thing is that I can think of 3 that could work just as hard as me but just couldn't stay out of trouble. One is in jail now for some drug thing. One I think has about 3 DUI's already. (I think he's 23 now.) The 3rd I'm not sure about. My point is that all 3 of these kids that I'm thinking of could work really hard ALL day. Had some good construction instincts, etc. None of them could show up on time. Hangovers 3 out of 5 days. Trouble with the law and such.

The other type of kid I get is what I have this year. Church goin, God fearing, law respecting, goody two shoes that is slower than a 3 legged turtle and the brains of a splittin maul.

If I could find "in between" kid I'd be a happy man.

 

[Oldtimer]

The other type of kid I get is what I have this year. Church goin, God fearing, law respecting, goody two shoes that is slower than a 3 legged turtle and the brains of a splittin maul.

LMFAO!!!!!!! I know of a few just like that!!

 

[Hddnis]

Some of the all time hardest working young men I've hired came from church youth groups. We're talking machines here, start early and just grind it out for the next twelve to fourteen hours. Only time I ever suffered lazy people was when they worked for someone else and I had no choice. In this job it turned out I was hired because the boss needed someone who could make his brother work. I was supposed to either get him working or fire him. I tried for four months, just to go the extra mile, then I fired him. He is back to work again, and working much harder.




Mr. HE

 

[mifirewoodguy]

Its nothing new with these kids now days, we go through em like saw gas and oil. Even the 20 and 30 somethings, they think they get to start at the top, I tell em show me what you know and why you deserve to be where I am and I'll be the judge. Hell Im out bucking and limbing for 8-10 hrs a day in 85-90 degree heat at 50 yrs old while they want to quit and go sit in the air conditioned truck. I have 2 sons 22 and 26 both know what I expect and know what an honest days work is, but then again Ive raised em that way. I dont expect college grads just good common sense and a safe hard worker....and Im in the market too!

 

[Rigwelder]

kids

i am a 24 year old man that has a full time welding job 60+ hours a week. And also manage to cut 250 cords of wood a year in oklahoma. It was 108 today and i put in 12 hours at work and 4 hours on the splitter. I went to college for a bit but my hands work better than my brain so i make a living with them. I get asked all the time why i work so much. and its simple thats what i know how to do. My dad wasnt a slave driver but i always had chores growing up on our little farm. 200 head of angus cattle. my wife came from a different background and didnt know what work was when we got married 3 years ago. She had since decided if she is gonna see me more than a hour a night she will work alittle herself. I dont ask her and really dont want her to work. But we decided we will work all the time now then we we start a family we will raise or family and work as much as is needed and thats it. i think parents help with the working atitude but its all up to what a person has n them. I have a buddy that could work me into the dirt growing up bc that is what his dad made him do. Now he is out on his own and his grass needs to be mowed. Lazy with a capital L!