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You have fi rise
when cock a crow

When I was a child, we used to spend summers in Jamaica. Now you might think how great, sandy beaches and all the mangoes you can eat, no problem, Mon. Well, not so quickly. My summers in Jamaica consisted of waking up when 'the cock a crow' which meant when the sun was rising; and because my grandparents didn't have electricity we had to utilize as much daylight as possible. We got up, ate breakfast, usually cornmeal porridge or fish and some hard dough bread and then we had to take the cows to pasture. After that we went out to the fields to pick peanuts. Pick peanuts? I'm from Brooklyn, what did I know about picking peanuts? I could pick a jar of peanuts off the shelf at the supermarket. I could also buy and open the jar, but pick them? It was hard, backbreaking work, not to mention we were out in the hot sun. But that's how you cultivate work ethic in a child, by putting them to work.

My parents also instilled good habits in us that played along with the life lessons. They made sure that we woke up early, even on the weekends. We had to wake up and clean the house and only after our chores were done could we watch 'The Super Friends', 'Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels' or go outside to play.

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