In a recent discussion with my sons, they were flabbergasted to find out that as a teenager, I worked at McDonald’s. They couldn’t believe it and when I finally convinced them that it was true, they of course thought I was super cool - you know, McDonald’s rocks the world of a four- and seven-year-old.

I have held a lot of other “really cool” jobs throughout my lifetime - starting as young as age 12 or so: newspaper delivery gal, babysitter, newspaper stringer, grocery store clerk, video store clerk - even a nanny. When I was in college I held three jobs and a full class load. So I know the value of hard work.

The question for me now is, how do I teach my children about hard work without necessarily having them get jobs when they’re teenagers? I’m not sure that I want them to have that responsibility along with all the other pressures and commitments that kids seem to have these days. But even at their young age, we talk about working a lot - they have two Type-A parents so it’s impossible for them not to ask about “why do you have to work,” and “why do you work so much” - you know those heart-wrenching questions that come at the most opportune times!

We (my husband and I) definitely want them to understand the rewards that come with working hard. Like most parents, we have things like homework to focus on, but we also wanted to give them the opportunity to earn something besides good grades and pats on the back. Yes, allowances are good - but at their ages, money is still not something that they are eager to earn. They do have piggy banks and understand that’s where birthday money and allowances go for now - but they don’t really care about or yet understand money. We wanted to encourage them to begin to understand responsibility and earning with something that mattered to them now.

So my husband had the great idea of creating a chart that has age-appropriate goals on it for each of them. He cut and painted gold stars with velcro on the back that they can earn - when they reach a certain amount of gold stars under one category, they are then eligible for a “prize” of their choice. We printed and cut out photos of “prizes” for them to choose from and velcro onto the chart once they reach the end in a category - these include everything from a variety of new toys (small things like Hot Wheels cars, for example), to family movie night (their choice of movie) to lobster dinner (yes, our seven-year-old loves lobster).

When we told our friends about the chart at a BBQ the other day, they looked at us like we were crazy. But teaching the value of hard work and the rewards that come with trying are something we definitely wanted the boys to begin learning at a young age. As long as you keep age-appropriate chores/responsibilities and rewards in mind, children can begin to learn this valuable lesson that will serve them well throughout life.

How do you teach children the value of hard work in your home?