It's working. Converting the masses.

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DavidV

DavidV

New Member
Nov 20, 2005
792
Richmond VA
After dark tonight, I had my boys outside loading the wood bins. Little one picked up a splinter and I went outside and took his place. As I approached the wood pile the 10 year old informed me "Wev'e been pulling from this area right here." I asked what was wrong with the area I was going to get the wood from and he said it had been getting too much rain since it was at the end of the stack and the plastic didn't cover it as well. So I was pulling from his designated area and he said
" I don't think we want that one, it looks a little wet....must be a hole in the plastic".

I nodded, grinning ear to ear and set that piece aside. The boys have been in charge of getting wood this winter and so far I have had fantastic hot fires so I went with his instincts. Every little victory must be cherrished.

David
 
My 7 year old after stacking wood for 10 minutes stands there looking at me and says how much are you going to pay me for doing this. I said you are just like your mother! My 4 year old on the other hand hasn't been corrupted by capitalist ways just carries and stacks what he can without monetary gain!

Craig
 
My four yr old daughter loves to help with the wood......and sits with me as I tune the stove after reload asking all kinds of questions. She thinks the secondary burn is "beautifull" and always wants to make sure the fire is going. LOL gotta love 'em!
 
My 6 year old loves to help with the wood pile. He thinks hes ready to run grampas wood splitter. Hes always telling me to check the fire, he doesn't like to be cold in the house.
 
MALogger said:
My 7 year old after stacking wood for 10 minutes stands there looking at me and says how much are you going to pay me for doing this.
Craig
Click to expand...

LOL Literally! How true is THAT! My son, a teen, throws that one out at me all the time. (and has been for years)

My response?

"How about I pay you with dinner tonight, X-Box time in front of my TV, a warm bed, and as a bonus I'll even throw in breakfast tomorrow for free. After that your on your own or you'll have to give me more wood. Deal??" I then get the shoulder slump, head drop and sigh.
...and this is 5 minutes after asking, prying & demanding him away from hours in front of video games

Hey, I remember hauling 5 gal pails of coal, in each hand, inside the house to my old man's stove during the late seventies; and I was WAY younger then him. (and I walked to school in 18" of snow every day, uphill -both ways)

I guess 16 is a long way from 7. ....It only gets better! ;-)

Oh, yeah. When he saw a picture of my woodpile, of course I got the comment, "HEY! I ran the splitter on ALL that and you are taking the credit."

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/5533/

...'ALL that', oh what a different world kids live in.
 
Funny how kids can be so different even in the same family. I remember with fondness our morning chores before walking to the bus for school (through bear infested wilderness but it was not up hill - grin). My brother and I were swinging the axes to split the firewood while my uncle was operatiing the chainsaw. I was five and six years old. I continued to find joy in such chores for several more years. But my brother found it laborious and rebelled. I hated being couped up inside and preferred the wood pile. My brother preferred reading books on the couch. (We didn't have video games then).
 
David, many thanks for sharing this story with us. Cherish the little victories, indeed. I am blessed with four teenage boys (3 of them foster sons or, as we affectionately call them, our rent-a-kids) who are all about pitching in together on the wood.
 
zeta said:
Put some leather gloves on them
to avoid down time from splinters.
Click to expand...

To steal a line from Jack Benny: "Gloves cost money. Skin you can grow.".

Jack actually said "shoes", not gloves.
 
My twelve week old son loves to watch the flames in the stove. He sits captivated. I'll have him fetching logs as soon as he can :)
 
The kids (ages 6, 9, 11, 13) would often raise a stink when I asked them to spend a half hour, grab some wood out in the pile and stack it by the back door... which got my wife asking how I could be so mean. The whining was almost enough to make me do it myself... but I didn't cave and now they're pretty good about it. Won't trust them yet, though, with loading the stove ;-)
 
Hi - My 10 & 12 year old boys can start fires with flint and steel. They are very good at woodscraft. The 12YO watches anyone who approches the stove to ensure that no small detail is accidentally put amiss. While I was out of town my Mom said it was comical watching my Son and my Dad vie for the 'chore' of loading and tuning the stove.

They are good boys and learning to take personal satisfaction from jobs done well is part of growing up.

I scored a massive Hickory at Church on Sunday. The old monster died and fell over leaving a fairly dangerous mess in the church yard. I'll have it gone by Sunday. Weather in the 50's this week, sunny even!

ATB,
Mike P
 
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