Your child should be doing household chores.

My husband and I raised our kids with the “hard work” ethic. At a very young age, they were given chores around the house and they earned a weekly allowance in order to feel like they were doing their part taking care of the family. This teaches a good work ethic.

For example, when the kids were very young, we were looking into buying a camper. When they heard their mom and dad discussing whether we could afford it or not, they both went to the piggy banks and each brought us about five dollars to help pay for the camper.

That was quite a bit of money for them considering how young they were. We accepted their money, purchased the camper, and shared with everyone the fact that our kids helped us pay for it. The look of pride we saw in their faces was unmatchable.

I had a kid in my daycare that went home one day and told his mom he wanted to have a chore chart just like Shawn and Jenna have. The next day he came to daycare and proudly told me he had a chore chart and he, too, was earning an allowance. I asked him what chores he had on his chart. His chores included taking a bath, eating his breakfast, going to bed on time, etc. I told him I was proud of him, but in my eyes, those items are not chores, they are expected behavior.

If you teach your children good work ethics when they are young, it carries through the rest of their lives. It's so much easier to teach them the right way as preschoolers and grade schoolers and teach along the way, rather than trying to instill a good work ethic when they are a teenager entering the workforce.