Comment by ck425
1 year ago
> And it isn’t about him having that specific skill. But it’s about having a sense of pride in your work and not half-assing things.
Maybe you'd have more luck teaching him the latter if you focused on skills/work that are clearly useful. Or useful to him atleast even if you disagree that handwriting is outdated.
Take pride in your work and doing it well is a useful lesson (and unfortunately not something I'm great at personally) but if he doesn't see any value in that specific work he'll never even comprehend the difference between work done well and work half-assed, never mind strive for it. All he see's is you asking him to put more effort into a pointless activity.
I reckon this is one of the reasons that sports and arts are relatively successful at teaching kids life skills like discipline. It's easier for kids to see the immediate value of being good at those than other skills, so their more motivated and lessons stick.
Good points. I am getting a solid smacking and lectures from HackerNews (the kind I often dole out) but appreciate the input from all of you.
I know my son especially will. Well, he IS obsessed with Soccer.
I always hated football myself but if he's into it look up the stories many coaches/managers tell of how they recognised future top players early on because of their discipline/work ethic. Those might inspire him more.