Can a kid be RESPONSIBLE at 6 years old? Just the fleeting vision or foggy nightmare of one of my sons slumming on a couch, jobless, eating potato chips while scratching themselves and playing video games into their late 20′s is enough to push me past all of my paranoia’s about making them grow up too fast. Currently, I am trying to teach the concept of responsibility to my 6 year old. Writing that makes me sound and sort of feel like an ogre. However, I strive for my sons to be a benefit to society and a rock to their families as “men”.

The tricky question though is, “HOW do you teach responsibility to a 6 yr. old?” Is it the ‘more is caught than taught’ theory? Is it what I show them with my life or is it what I teach him through assignments? Should I assign easy to complete tasks? How much should I remind him of his new duties? Can ‘struggle’ be an effective teacher? Or should I go with a reward system? What happens when he “forgets”? Should there be consequences for that? He will of course certainly forget… he is 6 after all. And we all forget something every once in a while, but if it is truly responsibility that I am seeking then it is his responsibility to remember.

Here is an even trickier question, “HOW do you teach responsibility to a 20-something?” Some argue that if they don’t get it by now than it is too late. Can you coach responsibility? Challenge it? Manipulate a system to produce it? Does it come from within? Will you know quickly when someone does not possess it? Will responsibility magically manifest itself in an individual over time?

Responsibility is a state of mind, a core value, a life principle. For some it seems to come in degrees or shows up only in certain areas. Some people do not seem to equally apply responsibility in all areas of their lives. This much I do know, when you have someone who understands and lives responsibility in full measure, do your best to keep them on your team and in your company.