The most dangerous liars can be the kids’ own parents. If you take a boring job to give your family a high standard of living, as so many people do, you risk infecting your kids with the idea that work is boring.
Most people are doomed in childhood by accepting the axiom that work = pain.
All parents tend to be more conservative for their kids than they would for themselves, simply because, as parents, they share risks more than rewards. If your eight year old son decides to climb a tall tree, or your teenage daughter decides to date the local bad boy, you won’t get a share in the excitement, but if your son falls, or your daughter gets pregnant, you’ll have to deal with the consequences.
Finding a good job is finding one that inspires you with the little things. Lots of boring moments come and go when you are on the job, but it’s the “a-ha!” moments that reward you most.
The inspiration is all relative. For me, it is watching computer hardware work as it should, as I told it to, properly. For a mechanic, it is a machine that purrs. For a doctor, a healed patient. If a person can’t derive some inspiration from the process of their work they are in the wrong job.