Teaching our kids about "real" life...

This is a continuation of a blog series where I answer questions that people asked anonymously about missionary life.  To see the original survey or to ask your own questions click here.

Question:

​How do you teach your children about 'real' life? (As in: going to your job, earning your money, school culture, etc).

Response:

This is a very good question and something that my wife Kim and I talk about all the time.  As full time missionaries we live very differently from most people. Honestly there are times that I lay awake at night wondering if our children are going to be hindered in life by choices that Kim and I have made. We are sooooo far away from living a typical N. American lifestyle!

I could turn this into a post comparing our life choices with what is "normal" but instead I will focus on the areas that the person who asked this question specifically mentions.

​"Going to your job"
- I am not sure what the person who asked this question is asking?  We often work out of our home so there are days when neither of us leave the house for "work." I think that our kids definitely understand that there is different kinds of work.  Some work can be done at home and other kids of work you need to travel for.
Farmers, writers and other business owners almost never "go" to their jobs either so I don't think our situation is unique.

​"Earning your money"
-Oooooh!  This one hurts.  I could be wrong but it seems like the person asking the question is implying that missionaries do not "earn" their money. Our kids see each of us working at least 40 hours a week and they also know the many other sacrifices that we make for our missionary work.  I have not doubt that our kids will have a strong work ethic.
Here is another blog post I wrote about missionary receiving a salary or being paid for their work if anyone is interested.

"School culture"
-By school culture I am assuming the person asking this question is talking about developing social skills, making friends and having a chance to connect with their peers.  
Our kids are able to do this many different ways.  Our family is very social and spend a lot of time hosting families at our house or we ourselves are travelling. In the past year our family has spent several months in Fiji, Spain and Canada.  In each place our kids have spent significant time socializing with other children and adults.  These cross-cultural / cross-generational experiences help our kids to develop very healthy social skills.
Some things they do miss out on, from school culture, are bullying, peer pressure, cliques and school dances ;).

Although I said earlier that I worry about the choices that we have made with our kids, I worry less and less as time goes by.  So many of our friends and visitors who spend time with us as a family affirm the choices that we make and compliment us on our kids development.  And who knows, maybe our kids "alternative" upbringing will turn them into advocates for change where ever they end up?