This post will deal with how to train children to be diligent workers. Like so many other positive character traits, diligence is not a trait that many adults have much less children. Americans especially have the tendency to give up if an endeavor does not create instant success. However, one of my favorite proverbs from the Bible comes from Proverbs 12:27b, "The precious possession of a soul is diligence." The Bible does not just call diligence "good." It calls it "precious," and therefore something of extreme worth to us as individuals.
The Definition of Diligence
What exactly is diligence? Webster defines diligent as steady, earnest, and energetic effort. The steadiness comes from being able to keep after a task in the face of opposition. Earnestness involves actually trying to do your best even when it may not be completely required. Energetic is giving it your all at everything that you do. The old phrase "anything worth doing is worth doing well" fits this perfectly. The new phrase "git 'r done" also falls into the realm of diligence. I define diligence as staying after the work set before you with all your might and effort until the job is done or God changes the task.
Adults First
Before I move on to the children, I want to take a moment and get real with the adults. If we as adults were to be completely honest with ourselves and others, we would readily admit that our tendency toward laziness can be extremely strong. It can be the easiest thing in the world to simply do what is required of you and no more. Diligence tends to be one of those areas where you must work at it for a lifetime. It does not come naturally to anyone. We as adults must make a conscience effort every single day of our lives to remain diligent to the task God has set before us. Also, we cannot expect the children to be diligent if we are not. We as adults must model this well if we expect the children to pick up on it at all. Our present society does not help with this situation, either. Typical Americans only do what is required of them in order to keep themselves from being fired. It is the rare person that goes above and beyond even though countless studies have shown that these people are the ones that enjoy more success. If you do not believe me, become an employer. Better yet, become the employer of people under the age of 25. I have been told to my face by an employee under the age of 25 that they should be paid minimum wage for walking through the door every day. If I wanted them to do more, I would have to pay them more. Needless to say, that particular employee joined the ranks of the unemployed very quickly. However, as an age group, the below 25 crowd give new meaning to doing the bare minimum. We failed miserably as a society to teach the generation that is now between the ages of 12-25 what it means to be a diligent worker. The generation that is 25-40 did not learn that lesson too well, either. My generation was taught that lesson and ignored it until we had to start funding the lifestyle of the former two generations. Now we have to have diligence just to keep our heads above water. In case you are wondering, I fall into the generation that is 40-65 and has to have 3 jobs just to keep all the bills paid. We must do better with the next generation coming up because I refuse to have to work 3 jobs until I am 80 years old just so all previous generations can sit on their laurels and play video games. I am not saying that every member of each age group falls into this categorization, but you have to admit that as a whole that is a pretty good assessment of our present situation. We must as individuals judge our own selves. Do we truly live the motto "anything worth doing is worth doing well?" Are we the ones doing all we can to survive or is there someone else in our lives doing that for us? Please be adults who carry their own weight in this world. I am now off my soapbox.
Make A Difference
Since as a society we have failed miserably in the teaching of diligence, what can those of us that want to make a difference do? My favorite quote from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series comes from a conversation that occurs between Gandalf and Frodo. "Even the smallest person can change the course of history." If you can train the children sent to you to be diligent, you might just be raising the one that does alter the course of history. Where do we begin? We begin by ignoring hissy fits. I have already written one post about hissy fits, but I will have to address it again here. Expecting diligence from today's children will beget major hissy fits. Let them scream and wail and cry, but do not just do it for them if they are fully capable of doing it themselves. This applies to preschoolers through 25 year olds. I know that the early childhood climate does not lend itself to this philosophy, but if ever there was a philosophy that was meant to be ignored, it is the one that says you must cater to children and not tell them "no." I beg you to tell these children "no," "stop," and "don't" and make them do what they are capable of doing themselves.
Hold Back Before Intervening
The next step in this process involves being very slow to step in and do things for children. We have to let them flounder a little if we want them to figure things out on their own. If we as adults constantly step in at the first sign of trouble, the children will never learn how to problem solve, which is a byproduct of diligence. I read an article recently about embracing failure. Parts of the article made me cringe, but the aspect of teaching children to use failure as a springboard rather than a stopping point is right on target. Being able to use failures in a positive light separates the diligent from the rest of us. We must teach children to get back on the horse and stay after their goals if we want them to become successful adults.
Expect Diligence
The last aspect of teaching diligence revolves around expectations. I have said over and over in many of my posts that we get little because we expect little. Children are capable of so much more than many people give them credit. They just need someone to communicate to them that first of all they are capable of doing whatever they set their minds to do within reason. Then we communicate that we fully expect them to make every effort to bring it to pass. We as Americans are really good at the first part, but fail miserably at the second part. We have become so afraid of being overbearing that we do not expect anything from children. However, I communicate to the children in my care my expectations every single day, and it makes them flourish not wither. You need to provide children goals in which they can strive, or they will not strive for anything.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!! Check out Natalie's children's books at: https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457
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