I absolutely love the topic this month!  So few people are willing to put in the work required for excellence.  I believe the statistic is 20%. Or is that just the saying?  20% of the people in an organization do 100% of the work.

         There is nothing I value more from my students or staff than work.  When someone is willing to invest time in a project or job, I know he is committed.  That makes me want to reward… if I’m in a supervisory role.  And, even though I do not believe we get to heaven through our good works, I do want to hear God say, “Job well done, my good and faithful servant.”

         Getting gifted elementary students to work usually isn’t hard.  They like the idea of having adult responsibilities.  But by the time they are preteens, that allure is gone.  So, how do you get your gifted teen not to be a slacker?  The answer is: expectations, flavored with a bit of choice.  Let me expound.

        When my kids were still at home, they had chores that matched their ages.  There were the usual:  taking out the trash, setting the table, helping with dishes, feeding the pets.  When the kids reached 3rd grade, I added helping with the laundry and the yard work.  I never paid the kids for any of this work.  I did give an allowance, but the chores and allowance were never tied together.  My kids were part of the family.  As part of the family, they got some of the money to use for their desires, and they helped with the chores that needed to be done, just like the rest of the family.

      But when it came to keeping their rooms clean, I gave some “choice.”  I provided several storage places, like a large container that could double as kind of a “coffee table”-like piece and plastic drawers in the closet.  The kids could “clean” their rooms by simply shoving everything into those containers.  The only stipulation I had was that no food or laundry could go in the containers.  It gave my kids a way to clean quickly for me without having to do a major, day-long project.  They met my expectation without having to give up their plans for the day.

       How do kids become entitled?  Through the actions of parents.  When a parent pays a kid to get good grades, the child believes he is entitled to pay for good work.  ALL work a person does should be good work, not just the work for which we get a bonus.  I expect my kids to get A’s.  Yes, I might tell them I am proud of them, but I certainly don’t set it up to seem that they have done something fantastic to get an A.  All children who utilize all of the resources available to them should be getting A’s at school.  If parents would expect that, as opposed to acting as if it was some great feat, students would not feel that they were entitled to a reward for doing their job well.

      Talk to any manager whose hiring pool includes teenagers, and he will tell you that he would rather hire retirees nowadays.  Just like Pavlov’s dogs, our kids have been trained to ask what is in it for them.  Well, if you do your job, you will get your pay.  Should there be a bonus for just doing your job? No.  That’s how you keep the job.

       Start now.  Teach your little one that any job worth doing is worth doing well.  I mentioned how really good work makes me want to reward in the first paragraph.  That reward comes for the person being such a good worker, not for the job he did.  Every good worker loves to be recognized.  Same your reward for the person, not the job he did.

-          Michelle