A good reminder.

[fantasymaker]

Did it ever happen when you were a kid that you did something wrong? If you had parents like mine you were punished for it. That punishment was for then and that moment,But if you were like me it sunk in deeper and stays with you to this day. A little reminder to do right and keep your nose clean.
I have a friend whose punishment when he broke curfew was to wash the family car.At first he was surly and did a stingy job. In time he learned to do it right the first time instead of doing it again and again till his Dad was satisfied.
Now he takes great pride in how neat and clean he keeps his cars,but to this day each and every time he washes his car it reminds him not to break the rules, to keep his nose clean.
A few years ago my son got into trouble, it was stupid and he knows it.He was punished,took he punishment with the right attitude and has tried to go on with his life.
In this economy it was hard enough to find work and this made it harder. Tough to feed his family.
Of course like any parent I wanted to help out, but I also wanted something to remind him to keep his nose clean.
My childhood came back to me,when I was a kid Dad was a Army G.I. and we mostly lived on Base. Employment there for a 5 year old was scarce but in my family chores were abundant.
I carried out the trash.
WOW how I used to hate that job, it STANK! In those day trash went out in paper grocery sacks,that were slimy,leaked, and often weakened from being wet the bottoms fell out on the way to the dumpster at the end of the block.
NOBODY wanted to do that job. In fact I soon discovered my neighbors hated it so bad they would pay me 5 cents a bag to carry theirs out. Soon I had a route through the neighborhood carrying out the trash. Yep in the sixties that nickle would buy a coke,five would buy a matchbox car....big money for a kid, but somehow ya never got prideful.
There is just something about garbage money that reminds you of where it comes from, so I suggested my son go into the garbage business. I was right.The job still stinks. Believe me there's nothing quite like throwing trash cans to remind you of why you are doing it. A hot summer afternoon working under a smelly garbage truck and trying to start one at 4 am on a frozen winter morning both remind you in a hard way why your not wearing a suit.
Some would suggest my son shouldn't be running a trash business, I wanted you to know why I think he should.

[emdeengee]

What an excellent post. Lessons learned when you have to face the consequences of your actions right away sure do stick with you. My parents were always at odds about discipline. My Dad - ex-military - was hard but fair and we sure knew that he said what he meant and meant what he said. If he promised (with him there was no threat just a definite promise) a punishment he followed through. My Mom on the other hand would always back down. When she punished us she was always too tender hearted and way more upset than we ever were - so we ran roughshod over her. She rarely used the threat "wait until your Dad gets home" but when she did we knew we had really pushed the envelope too far. With all kids I think you have to be consistent in your punishments and never threaten what you cannot deliver.

[KIT.S]

Yup. My daddy loaded garbage over half-a-century ago. We still use a big cast iron fry pan he rescued while working. He went on to do many other things, and was successful despite not getting through 8th grade.
Kit

[Sonshine]

I don't think there's anything wrong with any honest work, whether it's picking up garbage or working in a law firm (although some would say working as a lawyer isn't honest work). There is something fulfilling in working to earn your living, regardless of what the work is. I've worked in both an office and in the factories. Each job gave me a paycheck if I did the work and gave me promotions if I did the job well.

[therunbunch]

Neither of my parents graduated high school. Both held down jobs while living though, sometimes working more than 1 at a time to make ense meet. These days higher education is really over-rated anyway. Teaching kids to work hard and stay committed is something that will stick (God willing!!). There's something wholesome in working a job and really truly appreciating what it costs to work hard and appreciate what you get out of it.

[HilltopDaisy]

This was my lesson or reminder~~~

I was 15 years old. My dad had bought me a horse when I was 12, and I was supposed to take care of him. Dad warned me several times, that if he came home ONE MORE TIME to find the horse not fed, the horse was gone.

And he followed through with his threat. Maybe that's why things are messed up today; parents don't follow through.

I came home one day and my horse was gone. I hated my father, and it took me a long long time to understand that lesson.

I'm 54 years old now. I have 3 horses who eat before I do. Every single critter I have here eats before me. I understand the concept of "stewardship". I know to take care of mine, sometimes at 2 AM, don't matter if I worked a 12 hour shift. They come first.

[rancher1913]

slight thread drift warning. what about teaching your kids a lesson that they hate not for punishment but because they need the skill. the oldest kid used to despise it when I made her change the oil in the cars and tractors and would pout the whole time about why do we have to do this. after learning that it had to be done and when she did it right it went easier than when she had to clean up spilled oil or find lost plugs. now she takes pride in knowing this skill that most of her classmates don't know.

[Ruby]

First off, there is nothing wrong with your son hauling garbage. It's honest work, that's all that counts. I know a man who when he was a teenager he lived in the country. When he would take his parents garbage off some of his neighbors would pay him to take theirs. His "business" kept growing by work of mouth. A couple years later he bought a larger trailer and put a sign on it. He named it "We haul" then his route got too large for him to do it alone so he sould his business. Now that business services a couple counties and they have a branch called "We haul it too"

Now he is in his 40's and has his own business pumping septic, owns several trucks and he don't have to work. His sons do it and he does the business end of it.

When I was a teen I was making a dress one time. I was having trouble putting the collar on. My mother was trying to show me how and I got frustrated and gave it a sling, and told her "just forget it." She slapped me for sassing her then told me I was gonna do it if it took all night. Well I had it put on within 30 minutes. (It's hard to see to sew through tears). After I got grown and worked in sewing factories my job alway ended up. PUTTING ON COLLARS. I hate job. LOL

[AR Cattails]

Great thread. Great lessons learned. Parents do need to teach this to their children today. It would be a much greater world.

[Acer Rubrum]

Speaking of lessons you don't forget...

When I was about 11 yrs old, I sassed the church choir director's wife one evening at church. By the time I got home, dad had already heard about it thru the grapevine. He told me to call her and apologize.

I looked up the number and dialed it; no answer. He told me to sit on a straighbacked chair beside the phone and dial the number every 5 mins until the lady got home. (This was in the days of the rotary dial phone, the days before answering machines or caller IDs.) I sat there for literally hours, calling her, long after dad had gone to bed but I knew he was listening from the next room.

I dreaded her answer and the hour was late.

By the time she got home from visiting friends and got home to answer my call, I literally started bawling when I heard her voice.

What lessons did I learn?
That choir director's wives can be very gracious with their forgiveness.
And that a phone number, dialed in the dark about a thousand zillion times by an embarrassed little girl, can be burned into the memory. I still remember her phone number, to this day (although she has many years since, passed on to Glory.) lol