Meaningful Work

I confess. I am not really a full-time stay-at-home mom (SAHM). I have a very part-time job as a tutor at a local university here in Kuala Lumpur. I teach Management and my students are all working adults. We meet once a month, though we have on-line interaction in between tutorials.

In all my classes, there is a story that I never fail to tell. It goes like this:

A man was walking past a construction site. He met a labourer who was laying bricks and he asked him, "What are you doing?"

The labourer replied, somewhat rudely, "Can't you see? I am laying bricks!"

He met a second labourer doing the same job. This labourer, when posed with the same question, gave this answer: "I am building a cathedral. When it is completed, it will be the most beautiful cathedral in the city and it will save many souls."

What is the point of the story, you may ask?

It is the concept of meaningful work. The second labourer is able to derive meaning in his work, however mundane it appears to be, and as a result, he is a happier worker. I see it as my job to impress on my students, many of whom are managers, the importance of helping their subordinates find meaning in their work.

I apply the same concept in my life. As a SAHM, things are not always cotton candies and hugs and kisses. In fact, I spend a lot of my time chauffeuring my children around. They attend different schools which start at different times and the schools are dispersed widely geographically. On the average, I am on the road four hours a day.

What keeps me going is the value I place on the one-on-one time that I have with each child as I drive them around. I realised earlier on that, with my boys, they are usually not comfortable if you were to sit down and hold a four-eye conversation with them. It is much easier when you are doing a parallel activity with them. And the times we share in the car is ideal. I have learnt a lot about them, what they do in school, their friends, their thoughts and so on, while we are in the car.

Still, sometimes, they can be uncommunicative and you may be greeted with grunts or snores. But as a parent, we just need to keep trying.