Are we right to demand our kids to work harder?

I'm interested in the whole concept of does hard work bring greater success ? especially amongst children. My natural inclination is to let them find their own level, however, there are times I feel that I'm doing them a disservice and that I should force them to work much harder than they do, in order to maximise their chances of success later in life.

I was impressed but also horrified in equal measure, to learn that Obama's mother had him up at 4.30 most mornings to go through his lessons. The video clip is below:



Elsewhere, Malcolm Gladwell (the author of The Tipping Point and Blink) has written a new book, Outliers, The stories of success.

In the book he describes the success that the Chinese as a race have, in part, is down to the more readily accepted hard work ethic. He quotes a Chinese Proverb:

No one who can rise before dawn 360 days a year fails to make his family rich

He argues that the greater the opportunity for hard work, for example longer school hours and more home study, the greater the opportunities for success later in life.

I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts and comments