Saturday, May 17, 2008

Saturday yard work


Family yard work day happened again today... and we are making progress on teaching the boys how to do it (can you sense a long-term plan in operation here?). The oldest learned today how to edge the yard using the weed-whacker. The youngest learned to mow. Their technique can use some improvement (they did most of their learning in the back yard), but the enticement of pay was a great incentive (we pay $5 to each of them for helping each week... this is big stuff to our boys).

Not long ago, when the boys were thinking of ways they could earn money (to purchase more games and maybe even a digital camera), we mentioned that, when they got a bit older and had developed their yardwork skills, they could possibly get jobs mowing and edging lawns for other families. This encourages them to learn all this stuff... I see my neighbors who have healthy teenage sons out doing every bit of their own yard work (probably while the kid is inside lounging around or else using the home weight-lifting gym) and I think that, even if they don't mind doing it themselves, the kid should be helping.

With that in mind... we are gradually working toward that end... the picture illustrates why the learning process should start in the backyard.

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