Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for June 20, 2014

Reality works… ;)

Still has a bit of Peter Pan syndrome in her Holly does.

Goodness knows she’s windy.

Well handled, Val. :-)) My grandmother would have done something similar. I was never allowed to sit around loafing; I soon learnt how to keep a low profile and keep myself occupied.

Boy! That brought her up short!

I honestly don’t understand parents who use the prospect of a summer job as a threat (subtle or not). Do you actually WANT your kids to shirk and detest work for the rest of their lifes? Do you want them to see working as something bad?

Present it as a treat instead. You are grown up enough now to get a summer job. That is good because you will earn money you can spend however you like. It won’t always work entirely, but it is better than presenting it as something negative like this. If I recall correctly, Holly actually started to like building houses that one summer. Holly may be spoiled and bratty at times, but I feel like a lot of that lays on the shoulders of Val’s parenting methods.

Was going to make a comment but I could not find a way of wording it that would have all the feminists and ‘lomens wibbers’ howling for my skin to be ‘tacked up’ on a wall. So, I just leave it for some other ‘poor’ smuck to take the fall ! ! ! !

Snarkm – you’re over thinking it. Look at it from the kids point of view. And some parents don’t look at it as a threat, but a promise. It’s just a convention as old as I can remember.

It’s true, you’re either a kid (school is your job) & play during the summer or you work. Not to say you don’t play when the work begins but when school is finished everybody has to work.

Didn’t Holly have an online advice column? What happened to that gig?

Now I want to build a fort in my office.

I was a child back in the late 50’s and the threat of Polio made it a must to come in during the heat of the day and my mom loved to nap so we used to make darn sure we had something to do in a shady place so we COULD stay outside in the summer.

Holly would be too young for a job only kind she could have be baby sitting her niece and or nephew.

Too late Holly. I think.

I started working at Dog “n” Suds when I was 12. I needed the money for clothes. My folks didn’t have any extra money to give me. I loved it. Started at .60 an hour and tips.

You misunderstood. It’s not that I think Holly shouldn’t relax and go out and find a job. I’m fine with kids enjoying their summers. I’m just questioning the decision of using work as a threat because I strongly feel it will put them off work without them ever having tried it. A lot of people find jobs they are passionate about and that they love. But if parents give their kids the attitude that all work is bad, they have zero chance of ever going at it open minded and maybe find a job they feel good about.

Well, when my daughters were young, the older one always found ways to keep herself busy, but the younger slouched around. I told Younger that in the summers she either had to go to school or find a job. She seemed cool with this, and took a calculus class one year and drove an ice cream truck another (at age 18) till her knees gave out.Now, Older has a professional job and Younger still slouches around.

You never ever told my mother you were bored. She would find something for you to do besides the regular daily chores of making the bed, dusting your room, dustmopping the room, wiping the dishes, and setting the table. When I got to be 12 I had to iron my clothes, too, and cut the grass once a week. Still, anything was better than when I turned 16 and had to go to work during the summer.

I remember the last tree fort I built. It was the last weekend of November of 1963. It was unusually warm for that late in November. And it was something I completely enjoyed, mostly because I could be alone, with my thoughts. Our President had just been killed, and it was just too painful to sit home and watch the funeral on TV. I miss that tree fort.

It’s amazing how inventive a person can be with a little incentive!