Life before 2008 23 Sep 2006 03:17 pm
What we’re doing right….
As parents, we spend lots of time wishing we did things better. Or thinking about where we screwed up, dooming our children to thousands of dollars spent on a therapist’s couch ;-). Today I realized something we’re doing right:
our kids have a good work ethic.
For years we’ve treated Saturday as a “family work day”. The kids have been side by side, or at least in our presense, while we worked on various kitchens, book shelf projects, yard work, moving, painting. I’ve had them at my feet (and hands in the dirt together) while we garden since Andrew was Rowan’s age. And I guess that’s paying off.
Today, depsite the off and on rain, we got up early and headed out to chop trees for our firewood. Our heat source is a wood stove and we had no wood and even less money to buy some. So it’s been a long day of chopping, sawing, breaking, carrying (up and down a large hill), stacking, mowing. Celia spent most of her time chasing Rowan and without being asked, cleaned the kitchen, the bathroom, and prepared a hot lunch of leftovers. She even brought out our meals on a tray! Andrew split, with a HEAVY axe, all the wood that David had cut into logs. That was no small task for an adult and he’s only 10! Wheaton gathered kindling and helped roll logs down the hill. I mowed the Big Hill and cleared out thorny vines and underbrush from the top of our yard.
I was very proud of our family today. There was very little complaining and everyone stuck with it until pouring rain sent us in for hot showers, cups of tea, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies around 3 pm. Our wood pile is a beautiful thing….so much more than just fodder to burn.
on 23 Sep 2006 at 8:22 pm 1.gina said …
Sounds like a great day! Hey, did you know that unless the tree was a fallen dead tree, it has to sit for a year before you can burn it? I assume you guys weren’t actually cutting down trees right? Just thought I’d mention that as it’s a really big hazard as it builds creasole in the chimney causing a house fire. I didn’t know that before and learned that from Paul from using wood at his camp and his parents house:-)
on 23 Sep 2006 at 8:37 pm 2.Sarah said …
Sounds like a beautiful day! There is nothing better then a family working together. People act so shocked when I mention that my 3 and 1 year old have jobs, including bringing in the garbage cans after trash day, making their beds, putting their dirty clothes in the hamper, straightening their rooms, etc… I don’t get it. How will they have a good work ethic later if it isn’t instilled in them now? Keep up the good work!