little house

One of my goals is to raise my children to be hard workers.  I want them to be capable and confident in their abilities.  Most of all, I want them to find hard work enjoyable and rewarding.  I want them to know work is not a punishment, but an important part of our everyday life.  There's joy to be found in even the most menial tasks!

So, every once in awhile I thought I'd share a glimpse of how we are doing it.  This is the first.

Work Side by Side

Monday morning we irrigated our yard for the first time this year.  All four of our kids helped.  We also weeded our garden area and did some other yard work.  We all worked together, side by side at times, and on our own tasks at other times.  Teamwork!

S.A.M. had a great time digging and weeding and helping set up irrigation.  Benefactor jumped in here and there with a turn at the shovel, too.  Mademoiselle was eager to learn how the irrigation is passed from one yard to the next and how our town shares water.  She followed Tyler along as he changed the flow of the water.  James was helping all of us out.  That kid loves to be a helper - he just likes to feel big and important.

As we dug and weeded, we modeled for each other different ways of doing things.  We enjoyed sharing observations (The roots of this weed are like a carrot!) and exclamations (My feet are numb, the water is so cold!).  We challenged and encouraged each other.

It was a great morning.  Tyler could have easily done all that work himself.  But every one of us enjoyed it, and we'll enjoy it again next week and the week after.  As we work side by side as a family, we grow in appreciation for each other, for the blessing it is to have a yard to work in, and for our strong and able bodies.  We teach and learn and serve, and as we do, we strengthen our family.


What tasks does your family work on side by side?