Practicing Human Resources for more than 10 years allows me to see different attitudes at work. It’s not about the age. It’s also not about the socioeconomic status. For me, the biggest factor is how a person views the work.
Many of our grandparents worked to live. They didn’t choose their work; it chose them. They took any job or opportunity to provide food and shelter. I have two uncles who are highly successful individuals, one living in Taipei and the other in New York. I asked them why they went to abroad. They said at that time, there were so many mouths to feed. My great grandfather died early so it was my grandfather who had to be the breadwinner for my grandmother, four kids, two aunts, one grand uncle and one adopted granduncle. My uncles said they studied hard enough to graduate from the University of the Philippines, and were lucky enough to get into good universities for their Masters.
Our parents’ generation was different. They worked to have more than what they had growing up. They hoped for their kids to never experience the hardship they went through. This resulted in their kids having a very fortunate and “less work” life. As generations progress, each generation has it easier in terms of work. We have more choices—in terms of profession, pay scale, location, psychic rewards like that feeling we belonged. Today, we experience younger employees who have more than enough choices that they don’t stay put.
What about our kids? What would work be for them? What work force would this “instantly everything available” world produce? There’s also the lingering question regarding passion vs. self-sufficiency. I sat in a room full of fresh graduates pitching their ideas for businesses.
They all said they don’t want to do things they are not passionate about. Then I asked them: How has it been for you these past year or two years? Most of them still depend on their parents for financial support. There’s absolutely no judgment there for me. I feel they’re lucky to have this chance to choose. It does beg the question: How long is that going to go on? And how can they become equipped for the vagaries of work when they haven’t devoted much time to gain experience?
My hope for my kids is to “work to be”.
Like most concepts, our view of work as parents greatly affects our kids’ views. For me, work was greatly influenced by emulating the hard work of our elders when we were growing up. Since the exposure to work was early, work became synonymous to “productive free time”. Work is the effort you put into getting high grades. Work is being considerate to help out adults who were doing too much.
Today, my definition of successful “work-ers” are people who appreciate the opportunity to do their job every day because they enjoy the fruits of their labor, and they like the person they’ve become or are becoming.
My two kids view work in ways similar and different. Schoolwork is both their main work. I pass to them what my grandaunt once said to me: my work as an adult will be in the office. My school was my workplace. She said I should use school to practice how I would work in the future. I’m proud that both of my kids do well in academics.
Today, my daughter sees reading as work. She takes time reading, googling, sharing information and giving her opinion about a subject matter or person she is learning about. She also doesn’t mind doing chores. Every summer she goes to the office and becomes a runner for our administrative manager. She files, routes paperwork, etc. She’s not paid for this. Why does she do it? She knows it will help her achieve her goals in the future. She’s aware not every child has the opportunity to work in an actual office, so she appreciates and maximizes the chance.
My son, at age seven, sees his toys as work. He researches a lot about them. After making a purchase, he sorts and files them into albums. During our weekly one-on-one time, he would be my lecturer on all things, “Marvel” or “Animal Kaiser” or “Pokémon” or, now, “Skylanders”, depending on his current interest. I tell him that his hobby of collecting is expensive but as long as he learns something from it, shows us he values them by keeping them well, and works hard in school, it’s fine.
He learned to count three-digit numbers from Animal Kaiser when he was 5.
I believe any work starts with interest. Something gets our attention and we try it. That exercise for kids is best displayed in play. When their eyes light up over a picture in a book, that is interest. But the best part for kids, in my view, is the emotional connection that’s built in this journey of discovery. Our kids love to be with us, especially from 0-3. More than knowledge, they look forward to that parental bond. If you connect that with exploring together in a fun and loving way, that for me is where the starting point for kids getting to love work. I have repeated this cycle over and over with my kids. And the result I hope for in the future is they’d never feel they worked a day in their life.
Belated Happy Labor Day to everyone.