Family help?

heres mine tellling me that its time to take a break. thats all the help i need. wife, eh, im just happy the woman doesnt throw too many splits off the mountain...

I have two teenage sons and don't go get wood without at least one of them with me. Usually it's a family thing and the wife comes too, and we make a day of it, a picnic in the woods sort of thing. We try to take some time out for some fun two, but sometimes I have to draw the line when they start treating the firewood like an amusement park.

For me it is also a whole family affair. Sometimes too much surprise for the young'uns. My teenagers and wife help out the most and the little ones do a lot of walking around. I run the saw, Wife runs the splitter, and the kids stack. Gotta love family time.

My oldest son just turned 21 and is three hours away in his third year at college. I miss him because he's been my right hand man for years.

But my youngest son just turned 17 and is filling his older brother's shoes admirably. We split about 2 cords this weekend and he is getting really good at reading the wood to split it.

My 19yo daughter has nothing to do with the process except occasionally stoking the stove. My wife is more than happy to run the splitter and help us unload the trailer when it comes time to stack (we cut and split in the lot behind my office, then bring it home and stack in the back yard.)

My kids are hard workers - my oldest daughter will bush hog / split wood / what ever needs to be done . My 11 yr old boy helps with firewood - that is his chore, he helps split and stack and is responsible for keeping the wood bins filled in the house next to the woodstoves eveynight during winter

Hard work never hurt anyone !

I'm in the same boat as most, preferring to process the wood on my own. I enjoy stacking and having some time to myself.

My 13-year-old son doesn't get off scot-free, though. During burning season, he becomes my wood waiter, fetching bundles whenever I order him to. All in all, it works out pretty good.

My wife helped stack while I was splitting... once. She says she actually enjoyed it, but hasn't made time to do it again (it's been 18 months). A full-time job, house cleaning, laundry, cooking, kids... she's too busy.

I was outside weeding a garden last night, while my 3-year old was pedaling around on his Big Wheel. He noticed the big pile of rounds and a pallet of splits in the driveway up by the barn, so I decided this was a chance to get him thinking about helping:

Me: "Do you know what that is?"
Him: "Wood!"
Me: "Do you know what it's for?"
Him: "Sawing."
Me: "But why do we saw it?"
Him: "To make more trees."

Figuring this was a dead-end, I tried another approach.

Me: "Do you remember how it gets cold outside in the winter? Does it get cold in the house, too?"
Him: "No."
Me: "That's right, we keep the house warm with the two stoves in the fireplaces, right?"
Him: "Yes!"
Me: "What do we burn in the stoves?"
Him: "Marshmallows!"

I guess this one will have to get a little bit older, first.

Over 30 years ago when I started at 17 it was Dad & I working together no matter what.For the past 10 years or so its me doing 99% of the work now.Felling,bucking,hauling,splitting,stacking etc.Once in a while he likes to cut a few small pieces,sharpen a chain for me,bring me a cold drink & even set up the rigging when a somewhat difficult leaner needs to be brought down.But no more splitting,carrying,running big saws or any "heavy" work..He'll be 84 next month & more than once told me in past year "In a few more years,you'll be slowed down like me...."

Joful, that was funny as heck.
Priceless.
It's all about perspective.

My wife helped stack once. She keeps the fire burning when I'm gone. Good enough.

My soon to be 8yo likes to run the splitter for me. She does really well. I test her once in a while by holding my hand in front of the wedge and telling her to hit it, and she always yells at me.

Backwoods Savage said:

in my youth I had that polio bug and it did hold me back. Yet, I was one who wanted to be part of things and wanted to be able to do what my brothers could do

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One of my best friends, a long time motorcycling and snowmobiling companion, had polio as a kid and it left him with a bad limp and one of his legs pretty badly crippled. He passed away recently in his mid 70s but rode the bikes and sleds up until just months before lung cancer took him.

The generations ahead of mine sometimes make my generation and those after mine look a bit like slackers. With notable exceptions of course. (It's nice to see so many of those exceptions on this thread.)

My 2 little guys (3.5 and 1.5) help me all the time. The 3 year old has a john deere gator and when I bring wood to the house, he loads a couple pieces in his gator and carries too. Work gloves and all. One of the favorite things for me to do. When we go out to work on the firewood, he says, "Are we cuttin' or stackin'?" They also each have little chainsaws and pretend to cut tress down all the time. I'm just worried when they really CAN help a lot, they won't want to. Either way, I am enjoying it now!

captjack said:

My kids are hard workers - my oldest daughter will bush hog / split wood / what ever needs to be done . My 11 yr old boy helps with firewood - that is his chore, he helps split and stack and is responsible for keeping the wood bins filled in the house next to the woodstoves eveynight during winter

Hard work never hurt anyone !

Click to expand...

Not to be the PPE Nazi, but I would at least consider getting your kids some ear muffs and glasses. Even for three of them, it's cheap.

That being said, it's awesome that they help out and can do something. I'm constantly shocked by how few people can even change a tire on their car, which should be a trivial task.

Dennis, the kids help out quite a bit here. My wife and the kids help out when we make the big move of the wood supply from outside stacks to bringing the supply in under the covered porch in the fall. The kids are just the right height for working under the porch! They go in under and bring it out to the cellar window for me and I wait in the basement for them to stack it on the window ledge. I then stack it a few feet away. It is a nice system. I am almost always working by myself out in the woods when cutting and I like it that way. It won't be long though and my son and daughter who are both 9 already will be coming along with me. Won't be long now till we get a frost and then it will be time to get out in the woods and start cutting for 2014-15. I can't wait. I love the woods when things cool down and there are no bugs. You are 100% right about the benefits of family and/or friends helping when you can get it. It is amazing the work you can get done with a few extra hands. Good thread idea Sav. If we had more kids working and learning/seeing/experiencing the benefits of work, weather they understand the benefits of it now or not, they/we would all be better off as they grow up! That is one thing that many children, not all, but many are lacking now. The experience of work.

Any family time spent together is priceless....they grow up fast, and the memories last forever