Here is why the path of least resistance is setting our kids up for failure
“Kids aren’t inherently lazy.
Kids are products of their environments & what is tolerated within them.
And if laziness (much like work ethic) is a learned behavior, it will surely be the behavior they practice most often.
You don’t teach them by telling them.
You show them.”
-Ray Zingler on X
We are a species who evolved to take the path of least resistance.
On the surface, this is obviously a positive.
Unless you live in a third world country (or some parts of where my family lives in Northeast Tennessee) you probably didn’t walk several miles down to the creek to retrieve water this morning, you probably turned the faucet on.
But when you dig a little bit deeper you learn just how dangerous this path of least resistance can be.
You literally don’t have to do anything anymore.
You can wake up, have coffee delivered, work a trivial job from your bed, have lunch delivered, watch movies from your bed, have dinner delivered, and then finish out you’re evening watching your favorite Netflix series.
Anything else you need from medical care to basic supplies can be delivered to your door and/or done for you.
While this to me sounds like a miserable existence it’s a very real reality (or damn close to one) many.
We think our need for life skills is gone because “somebody else out there can surely do it for us.”
We think we don’t need strength anymore because we have machines and robots who can do the heavy lifting for us.
But, like Mark Rippetoe says, “physical strength is the most important thing in life, this is true whether you want it to be or not.”
You may think you don’t “need it” but ask yourself who has a higher quality of life? The strong man or the weak man?
As a leader of 100s of young people with 3 young kids of my own, I bring this up because it’s important for me not to fall into the path of least resistance trap.
There are a lot of things in my life that I could get away without doing.
I earned that stripe, I got that t-shirt, I’ve busted my ass for over 20 years and I’m only 34.
But what happens if I coast?
What does that teach the young people who are looking to me?
That coasting is acceptable, right?
It’s not about what you’ve already done or what you can get away without doing.
It’s setting the tangible example for them, in “their” day.
Lead by example.
