What we give our children in their first experiences with work – in the form of chores – is critical in setting many future patterns of attitudes about work. Why not continue that process later in adolescence?

Learning about the world of work begins with childhood experiences. Think about it: chores, working with others, fun, learning about expectations, rewards, are the first work experiences that we have. Talking, listening, interacting around the tasks of the home is a source of encouragement, of responsibility, of choices, of obligation, development of judgment, adjustment, and even of fun. And all of that builds self-confidence. It’s the source of what we know of as our vocabulary about work. Our awareness of others and our roles in their lives is garnered – not always smoothly – from that first work and interactions within the family. It’s lessons are hopefully replicated in other settings in school and finally in the world of work.

Talking about that set of chores, and about expectations around them, is one of the constants in parenting in early life experiences for our offspring. And why does it have to end with the earliest part of development? Why does it seem that we hand off the interaction around work to “others” at a certain point?

There are some good reasons for the hand off, but there are even better reasons for working on that inter-generational contact.

One of the reasons for thinking about the world of work through family interaction through the teen years is that it doesn’t always happen very effectively in the school setting. Counseling more often than not is relegated to reviewing college view books in the Junior or senior year.

With some outside assistance in getting the dialogue moving, the family can become a part of getting students thinking earlier about who they are, what their options are, whose expectations they are dealing with in making college choices and a variety of things that we’ve characterized elsewhere as self-knowledge.

While we don’t necessarily expect teens to have developed full-blown career paths, at least they’ll have continued the process of discovering the world of work and life where their first exposure started – in the family.