Kids are products of what they witness in their environments and what is tolerated within them.
“Kids are not inherently lazy or hard working.
Kids are products of their environments & what’s tolerated within them.
Their best teachers aren’t school books.
Their greatest teachers are the witnessed personal example of their superiors.
Don’t talk about it, be about it.”
-Ray Zingler on X
If you we’re to come through either of the gates of my home, you’d be met with a pit bull running loose, chickens in pens, weight sleds, dumbbells, and kettlebells scattered throughout the property.
If you were to come in the front door, you’d immediately be met with an upstairs office and a Peleton bike.
If you made your way downstairs you’d see another home office, a library, and a home gym.
And finally, if you were to slip out the back door, you’d be met with 8 or so dog pens with American Bulldogs raising hell and one GSP, too.
Why am I telling you this?
Work.
Damn near everything in my life and my family’s life is work.
From raising babies, to working on businesses, to lifting weights, dragging sleds, tending hounds, and feeding chickens the construct of work is taking place damn near all the time in my household.
And this is entirely intentional.
I want my kids to grow up understanding that hard work is the norm. It’s the expectation. It’s the standard.
And I know I can’t just tell them about it.
I must live it.
Everyday.
And that’s why every day my kids see their father working on the family business, swinging kettlebells, carrying chunks of concrete up the road bed, feeding chickens, & watering dogs.
Not sometimes, but damn near every time they turn their heads.
This isn’t to imply that I don’t schedule time for fun and relaxation, we obviously do.
But I know damn well, my children’s work ethic hinges on not what they are told, but what they witness.
And I refuse to leave any doubt.
We live in a world that is so far removed from the construct of hard work, that in many ways, it truly is a lost value.
We say cheap things like, “Kids these days are so lazy!”
When in reality it’s adults who have “earned it” stop leading (living) by example.
Many kids don’t work hard for the simple reason that is, they don’t know how to.
They’ve never consistently witnessed it enough to know what it looks or feels like.
It’s not about “back in your day..”
There day is today.
Don’t tell them about “it”.
Live it.
