The other day my little boy came home from school and asked me why I didn't work. He said a boy at school had asked him what I worked at and he had told them 'nothing'!
I explained to him that I don't work outside the home at the current time but that I do work every day. I may be on a career break from my job but that didn't mean that I was doing nothing. I told him that cooking, cleaning, taking care of him, his Dad, his Granny and our cats all qualifies as work. He looked so sad and turned away from me. I had to coax him to tell me why my answer had upset him so.
It transpires that he was disappointed to find that I thought of looking after him as being work. I think he has a point. I love looking after him and my family so maybe I should 't be thinking of what I do for them in this way. After all if you are doing something you love, can it be classified as work? I think it was Confucius who first realised this thousands of years ago. And here I am, having to be reminded of this by my five year old (sorry, five and three quarters!) son.
'Speaking' of work, I then asked him if he had any thoughts of what he would like to work at when he is a grown up.He used to say he wanted to be a doctor so he could fix people and make them better. Indeed, any time we had a doctor visit, he insisted on going all dressed up in his doctors outfit, carrying his bag of equipment. Apparently he no longer wants to be a doctor or a vet as he heard that in training you have to look at dead bodies and brains and things and anyway he wouldn't like to have to to blood tests!
The other thing that he often talked about being was a bin man. That idea is also out the window as he thinks it would be too hard to be working out in rain and snow and sun.
He put on his thinking face and then said he had a great idea. He wouldn't work at all, he would do something he loves too and still make money. When I asked him what the idea was, I could hardly contain my giggles. He said he will just keep doing runs and walks and a bit of playing and get people to sponsor him. He would go round all the neighbours and relatives and get them to sponsor him to do these things all the time. Then he would be doing something he loves and make money too. The poor child was so so disappointed when I explained to him, that people usually got sponsored to donate the money to charity and that he would have to give it all away.
Whatever happens in his future, I sincerely hope that he will have a love for whatever 'work' he does and so the work will become the work of love.
What about you? Do you love your work, whatever it may be?
