FAMILY WELLNESS AND CAREERS

FWR Says: The Risks in Good Families – Careers

Our teens don’t realize that much of their satisfaction and self worth will come from work. We are losing that discipline. Our newcomers from Mexico and China now show us how to work and how to get the good jobs.

The discipline of work begins at home with the chores. There is an important trick about chores. When Sylvia takes out the garbage the big part of the job is remembering to do it. That’s where the discipline comes from.

There are different ways to a career. One is family tradition - medicine, a skilled trade, military. Another is following talents. This is a bit risky like music - a great art but the pay isn’t there. An even better way is asking, “Where can I do the most good?” In this case the talents will come when the purpose is clear.

There are several dumb ways to make career choices. One is to fly off to Europe for a year to find oneself. Another is college. Careers don’t come from classes and books - they come from experience. However, many of the colleges of the professions give good grounding for service careers. Otherwise college can be a perilous path for both sound beliefs and norms of social life.

Experience leads best. This means that volunteering in hospitals, recreation, overseas programs and any of the trades often lead to good career choices. There is an old saying, “By age 30 you must have it”.

FWR Says: Good work and career are proven ways to wellness