- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- dads today articles
- dads today q&a
- community & groups
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
From Our Sponsors
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Working for a Living
Telling Children about Your Job By Carma Haley Shoemaker
Children will learn their work ethics from their parents. They will grow up thinking either of work as a positive, enjoyable experience or as a negative, burdening task. Parents may not wish to place a negative feeling related to their job, but if a child does not know or understand what the job is, they may not understand why it makes their parents feel in a certain way at the end of the day. "A child learning about their parents job and what they do at that job can help children build an understanding about what work is," says Berkeley. "Without this knowledge or information from their parents, children may look at working in a negative aspect. They see it as a place you have to go where you are stuck for several hours until they let you come home, leaving you tired and dreading the next day."
Allowing children to know what career choice their parents have made allows them to understand that portion of their parent's life that they are not a part of. Just as parents discuss their children's day at school, a sleep over at friends, or the big game, children want to know what parents do with their time, too. Share and share alike is one children's rule that maybe adults should adapt to their world as well.
"A job is a big part of a person's sense of identity," says Smith. "I think that it is a parent's responsibility to support their child's search for the way that they want to spend their lives. It's important not to push our wishes or dreams for their future on them. They need to make these choices for themselves. What better way to do this then to share the choices we ourselves -- both as parents and as people -- have made."