What do you think about the quote below? Someone wrote it to me last week and I have recieved permission to share it with the greater world wide web. 🙂 What do you think about what he’s saying? Feel free to comment and tell me your thoughts. Please deal with the topic, and not the person. Thanks.
Please consider…I would be very interested in your thoughts on the following.
When parents with children at home speak of wanting to find a job or being in a job that brings great meaning and purpose to their lives…are they effectively saying that being a parents is not the most meaningful and purposeful things about their lives? Do we live in a culture where one’s work is the most important thing…where one’s work is their primary source of identity and value as a person? If that is so, is not such a concept an enemy to the family system?
I see the concern. It can be a devastating thing when either parent, or both of them, make work a priority over family. They fail to adequately be there for their children and they send the message that money, status, power, etc… are more important than family.
But I think this is a completely different thing than having a meaningful job, or a job in which you find purpose. If a parent has a job in which they find fulfillment, yet manages not to make that job the priority over their children, then I think it can send very positive messages to the family. Family is first, but we are not one-dimensional beings. We have lives outside of the home and that’s okay. Kids need to see that their parents enjoy what they do, and that what they do is important.
When I was growing up my dad had his normal Monday through Friday job working at General Motors, and he was also in the National Guard (one weekend a month, two weeks a year) and was very active at our church. Even as a kid I could tell that working at GM was what he did because he had to pay that bills, but that serving in the Guard and at church were the things that he loved and found purpose in. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to have him gone for that one weekend a month, but it was exciting to see him come home smiling wearing his fatigues, and I felt like I was on another planet the times that I got to go to the National Guard armory with him. Looking back, I never had any interest in going to the GM plant and seeing my dad work there. My dad never talked about quitting GM to go full-time in the Guard or to find another more meaningful job, but if he had I’m sure I would have thought it was exciting – not that it meant he valued me less.
In reading the question, I can’t find where our hypothetical person suggests that this meaningful job would be more important than his family. If he were to go that far, I can see where it would be a problem. However, one part of caring for your family is the responsibility of providing … in this case, it becomes of extreme importance to have any job – if it ends up being a job that brings meaning and purpose to your life, then great.
I also can’t help thinking that much of it would depend on the attitude of the person in question. Can’t any job bring meaning and purpose if looked at and handled in the right way?
The stay-at-home parent has been looked down upon since the 1940’s with WWII. When the men were sent to war, the women stepped up and went to work. When the men returned, the women wanted to continue to work outside of the home because they felt valued and able to offer something other than raising children. The women’s movement has been fascinating through the 1920’s into the 1950’s and we have the 1960-1970’s era which has done much damage to the value of women. Yes, some good things have come out of Feminist Movement though I believe there has been more damage than good. The value of woman and man is defined by God. If we take out God, which this country as done a wonderful job, where does the value of woman and man then stand? The value of man and woman stands outside the home where they are able to accomplish other things.
When a person enjoys their job it demonstrates what a successful career can look like.
Hypothetical Dad #1- Hates his job, High ho, High ho.. Off to work I go, the paycheck is the only thing I go there for. Day after day this goes on and a child sees “Work Sucks”. I don’t want to do that when I grow up. It makes people miserable, or worse causes stress.
Hypothetical Dad #2- Enjoys his job, “I get to go to work today”- Smile on his face. The work feals meaningful and puts a smile on his face. He comes home and is happy. His pay is sufficiant and his loyality is contageous. He demonstrates to his children that work has purpose and is what God intended for us to do. He didn’t give Adam a Supermarket, he gave him a Garden!