Spring Break on Dad’s job site

An 11 year old’s career lessons learned during spring break

When you envision kids on spring break on the North Shore of Oahu, the first scene you see is probably not kids attending work with their parents. However, Hawaii is expensive and in pretty much all households both parents work. In some instances, families do not have family or friends to watch their children for the week or the opportunity to take time off to be at home. That means for some students spring break means go to work with your parents’ week. This was the case for an 11 year old boy who shadowed his dad for the week on a land clearing project next to our home. We have our future neighbors building their retirement or rental properties around our house and this lucky kid had the opportunity to help (mostly watch) his father prepare the area for building. As my wife and I saw him come day after day my wife mentioned how she felt so bad for him missing out on his spring break. I initially had the same feelings but then after some thought, I realized this kid was learning some great life lessons (even if he didn’t know it).

Now I am a big proponent of letting kids be kids; they have their whole life to work so we should let them enjoy childhood. I am sure this poor kid was only helping out his father because there was no one at home to watch him. Let’s be honest though, we spend most of our lives as adults in careers. A little adult preparation where kids learn about new careers and develop skills that prepare them for adulthood isn’t the worse thing for them. On this spring break there were some valuable lessons being learned by this 11 year old.

Lesson 1: STUDENTS NEED TO KNOW WHAT CAREERS OR SUBJECTS INTEREST THEM BEFORE COLLGE

The days were long and hot for our friend that week. He was at most 50 yards from a beautiful beach and I am sure he wanted nothing more than to just go for a swim to cool off. However the opportunity to spend roughly 40 hours watching his father clear and flatten land for building allowed him a firsthand glimpse into the world of construction. He saw the work conditions, the demands and skills needed to have a job in that field. Maybe he loved it, he did get really excited when a small back hoe was brought in because he thought it was for him to use while his father worked with the bigger one. Maybe he hated being out there, and now he knows he wants no part of working construction in his future. Kids need to be shown what careers actually look like and what they demand before they chose a major and invest thousands of dollars in their training.

Lesson 2: WE ALL NEED A DIVERSITY OF SKILLS

While most of the time this kid was just sitting and watching, there were times when his assistance was needed. He was tying knots to take down small trees, guiding his father around rocks among other small tasks. During lunch his father showed him how to drive the smaller backhoe. There is no doubt in my mind this father was teaching his son construction basics at home and wanted him to have skills that are needed in the world. The kid may not choose to go into construction but those skills will either save or make him money in the future. All kids need to develop a diversity of valuable skills even if they are not directly tied to their careers.

Lesson 3: WE ALL NEED TO APPRECIATE HOW HARD OUR PARENTS WORK FOR US

As I mentioned, these were hot sunny days and while I am sure the kid wanted nothing more than to go for a swim, I am sure the father wanted to do it as much as his son, if not more. The North Shore of Oahu is not the easiest place to work (trust me), the ocean is always calling your name. This father has a responsibility to his family and so he comes to work, does his job and then goes home. Most of us don’t have the opportunity to see our parents on the grind at work. We may go to bring your kid to work days or show up on a slow day to have lunch with them but we don’t see the ugly, hard work. This kid got a glimpse of it and I guarantee he has an appreciation for how hard his father works for him and I don’t know if there is anything more valuable.

The more we can help children to see what jobs really look like and help them to develop useful skills, the faster our economies will get to where they need to go. All too often students are graduating from high school clueless about careers and completely lacking in valuable skills. Fixing this problem begins in the home. As parents we have to be the start of our child’s career exploration and skill development. At times it will take some creativity but asking your boss if you child can job shadow for a day or even a week is a good start.