The word economics spreads a wide umbrella over many concepts. Scarcity and choice, production and distribution of resources, and more.

The origin of the word betrays how much we have lost, however.

It comes from two Greek words.

• Eco – home

• Nomos – accounts

It had to do with household management and keeping accounts of all the productive work that happened within a household. The word we use to refer to all the productive work of a society originally referred to the management of all of the productive work of a household.

How far our households have fallen. The word “economics” now needs the qualifier of “home” to have any semblance of its original source, despite having the meaning of “home” in the word itself!

Modern households have become places of personal fulfillment and entertainment. They used to be the core productive unit of society.

If you wish to build a lasting legacy for your family, you must commit to giving your household a mission.

It must be productive.

Your entire family must contribute in some way to this productivity.

It must make “Home Economics” redundant.

The modern makeup of our industrialized society makes it difficult to focus our households on productivity. But since when has difficulty been a disqualifier for doing the right thing?

It won’t look like households from the ancient world. It certainly won’t look like the strange limbo of the 1950s. We won’t be able to unplug completely.

But we can do more. We can form the types of familial bonds that can only be formed in the grind of working toward a common purpose. To do anything less is irresponsible.

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