How Work Early On Can Prepare Us for Work Later On

In this week's class we talked a lot about the impact that work can have on families. One thing that had a lot of meaning for me was how work early on, whether it's through household chores or an actual job, can prepare us for work later on in life as adults. As I have looked at my own experiences, I agree; work early on does prepare us for work later on in life. When I first attended college, I was living on my own with roommates that I had never known before for the first time. But because I had taken care of household chores previous to going to college, I knew how to take care of myself and do the things that needed to be done around the apartment to keep things functioning. The experiences that I had earlier in life, such as the household chores of washing dishes, doing laundry, sweeping, mopping, etc. had prepared me to accomplish these tasks when I was living on my own. Living on my own at college I was able to appreciate the lessons that work early on had provided me with that allowed me to be prepared for the work that would lie ahead of me once I was living on my own. Looking back, I am grateful for my parents teaching me the importance of doing chores and having me do work around the house; without it I may not have been able to work effectively and take care of necessary things when I was out on my own later on.
Another experience that I have had with this topic is in regards to the actual jobs that I had while I was still living at home with my parents. Before attending college, I had summer jobs in my hometown, whether it was doing yard work, cooking, babysitting, or staining porches and decks. Through these experiences I was able to learn the importance of work and what it took to make work more effective for me. I learned what work tactics worked best for me, and how to get jobs and tasks done efficiently in a timely manner. Once I moved away and began college, I was able to get a job working in a retail store in the town I attend college in. Because of the previous experiences I had working before I went to college, I was able to know how to work effectively in this job that I had later on in college. I knew how to work effectively with my managers, how to complete tasks in a timely manner, and also I learned how to work effectively in a work environment. If I hadn't had those previous experiences with work while I was living at home, going to work at college would have been a lot harder for me and it would have been more of a challenge learning how to work effectively in my job later on in college. Because of my experiences, I strongly believe that work early on prepares us for the work that we will do later on in life as adults.