Childhood Memory: The day we poured the basketball court in our backyard...the excitement of the cement truck, the huge extension hose running down the side of the house to carry the cement, watching the sloppy mess, the mesmerizing appeal of the leveling and smoothing, Grandpa telling me not to get too close, the heat of the day, the desire to slosh through the wet cement, the finished product. Watching, ever watching....but not helping. I probably could have assisted with something had I spoken up. But I didn't. I ate my push-pop instead.
Ahhh, the joys of home improvement projects. Do you just want your children out of your hair so you can get it done? Or do you involve them in the project so they can EXPERIENCE and LEARN a new skill that will help them in their future family?
We try to choose the latter. No, it's not always possible for them to help out, but the more projects they have their hand in, the less money they'll be spending to hire someone else to do it when they're grown. And they can save Mom and Dad a little money, too!
Fast forward twenty five years to our own cement pouring project.
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| Carried and loaded old concrete, cleared rocks, helped level |
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| Broke out old concrete, prepared the area by digging and digging and digging, leveling, transported cement. |
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| I watched the truck and the pouring and the smoothing. No push-pop this time! |
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| More on-lookers |
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| My gophers...very helpful! |
No matter how exciting it is (or isn't) to watch wet cement coming out of the truck, it's even more exciting watching my children participate. Put them to work; it keeps them off video games, TV and computer, and builds muscle and brain power. Don't forget to give them a push-pop when they're done! (Do they even exist anymore?)
More to Come...but until then, Stick-to-it!
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