Do you bring your kids to cut wood?

[chad3]

Daughter helps start the fires and she "knocks the wood as she walks by it". She'll help next year I'm sure. Good girl. Love burning, but as of now understands the steps. I used the lighter for the grill today and as soon as I picked it up, she asked about lighting the stove. Right now she crumbles the paper, hands me the kindling and gives me the small splits for the first fire. She even asks me to make them smaller off the bat.
I love her. She will make a man happy a few (ha, ha) years from now. Her first rifle is already sitting here.

 

[North of 60]

My boys are 5.5 & 2.5yrs. They sit back and eat their raisins when Im cutting. They stay in the truck if Iam falling. But
do their very best to help daddy when they can.

 

[CowboyAndy]

That's a real good question. My kids were raised on a farm. When they were small, I started watching to see how my friends were doing with their older kids who were expected to always help on the farm. With what I saw, I decided my kids would have the usual chores and anymore was up to them. Needless to say, I never got much help but they did grow up to be real good people.

MY wife grew up on a farm too, and EVERYONE was expected to do their part. My daughter just doesn't seem to have the same work ethic as anyone else around her. I think I am going to let her off the hook, but my boy must help (and he will get something special for it).

My sons have helped in the wood since they could walk. Now I can't get them out of the woods. My oldest son got married last week and when we were at the parents table eating his father-in-law told me that is the first time he saw him not wearing camo. I told him take a good look. A suggestion for felling trees when your kids are with you. buy a disposable air horn and give it a blast before making the last felling cut. Tell the kids when they here that sound they MUST look at you eye to eye for instructions. Happy times with the kids always enjoy them now.

I like the idea of the air horn. Usually when we are felling a tree, they have to stand at the FRONT of the truck (which is parked where it is well out of harms way) and must remain there until I say so, not when the tree comes down (never know what can happen).

 

[AceRyder]

My 6 year old son and 4 year old daughter love to help when it comes to stacking wood and actually do a pretty good job. But it's usually short lived.. Once the chainsaw starts, they usually run the other way.

 

[willisl64]

My 2 yr old son loves to go to the woods with us....Thinks the saw and splitter are too loud to get too close, which is great. He also "helps" stack on occasion

 

[Cazimere]

I wouldn't allow children in the woods with me while felling, limbing or bucking.
It's bad enough i have to scold adults and homeowners about staying clear while i'm cutting.

 

[smokinj]

I wouldn't allow children in the woods with me while felling, limbing or bucking.
It's bad enough i have to scold adults and homeowners about staying clear while i'm cutting.

Thats funny when I start my saw you cant find anyone!

 

[bruce56bb]

north

that pic is great.

 

[mranum]

We had the usual chores to do too on the farm along with helping to keep the house warm. I can remember helping clear the brush when I was 7 or 8 and by the time I was 10 I was helping on the buzz saw. We learned about hazards and safety early on. There is something to be said about giving kids responsibility early depending on the kids maturity. I was raking hay by myself a couple miles from home at 10 years old driving a 50 hp tractor to boot.

Giving kids meaningful tasks to do is a sure way to get them to want to help in the future, it makes them feel important.

 

[RedRanger]

All 3 of mine helped up till about 12 years of age. After that--well we all know what teenagers are like.? Looking back, I think we should invent a new defination for teenagers=lazy slugs :cheese:

Now the youngest is 25 and the oldest almost 31-and when they come to visit, boy, do they love the heat of that wood insert. Still clueless though me thinks, about how that heat gets in and out of that firebox. :wow:

 

[Jeff S]

My children are son(9).daughter(15),son(17),I try to have one of them helping me at all time,sometimes all of them when there not busy with there own activities.

 

[DavidV]

My 9 year old and my 12 year old help gather the wood that I've cut and put it in the truck I have them bring me wood in the back yard when I'm stacking. The 12 year old really enjoys splitting with the splitting axe....I won't let him near the splitter. My daughter who is away at college used to love stacking wood. She would turn on her MP3 player and go to town. The boys would pull splits off the pile and take them over to her and she would make some really nice tight stacks. She called home the other day and told me to make sure there is plenty of wood to stack on Thanksgiving break....and some to split as well. She never really was good at splitting it but she liked to try.
My wife will get up and walk out on the porch to grab some wood to put in the stove...

 

[fattyfat1]

when I was five, I was helping my dad gather wood, he shut the saw off but the chain was still spinning, I ran in to grab the round, and hit my head on the bar. chain cut a kerf out of my skull along with a three inch scar I have to this day. my two boys (4 & 6) are not allowed ANYWHERE near me when the saw starts, or the tractor is running, or the logsplitter is splitting. they love to carry and stack though. This summer I tossed those two in the back of my truck, and they handed me and my wife every piece of a cord of wood to stack in the shed. very helpful little guys. ( they even have their very own toy chainsaws so they can "help" me cut, and I took my axe, outlined it on plywood, cut out the shape, so the each have their own "axe" to help dad split.)

 

[Falcon]

We had the usual chores to do too on the farm along with helping to keep the house warm. I can remember helping clear the brush when I was 7 or 8 and by the time I was 10 I was helping on the buzz saw. We learned about hazards and safety early on. There is something to be said about giving kids responsibility early depending on the kids maturity. I was raking hay by myself a couple miles from home at 10 years old driving a 50 hp tractor to boot.

Giving kids meaningful tasks to do is a sure way to get them to want to help in the future, it makes them feel important.

Ditto. I grew up on a fruit and dairy farm. By age 15, I was driving equipment worth 4 times more than the annoyed driver of the German sports car following me down the road. The work never ends on a dairy farm, but hey, we had an endless supply of apple wood to burn! My family still runs the farm, and my 4 boys have all had regular tastes of an honest days work. They are 21, 19, 16, and 14. This summer we re-roofed & re-guttered the house in June, and put up 10 CSS cords from July through the start of school. My wife has been turned into a wood-splitting monster! She taunts us if we don't keep up. Who'd have thunk it?

My older two will do anything I do, perhaps with less precision. The younger two only use the saws, splitter, etc. with supervision. The day before my 19 year old went back to school, I caught him up on the roof, he said he was "just looking at it". Tell me he didn't have a sense of ownership in a difficult job well done. I involve my kids as much as I can.

The ability to be self reliant is one of the most important things a child can learn...does wonders for their confidence in everything else they choose to do. Helps out when I'm having a "bad-back day" too.

 

[Cory92]

My 12 year old says " But Dad I don't want to" It's not about what what you want, It's aboout what I need you to do. Needless to say she and her 4year old twin sisters helped me stack wood for and hour and a half and had the time of their lives.

 

[Chris S]

My kids helped with the splitter and stacked wood when they were younger. The youngest would always last the longest- running the splitter valve at 6 or 7 years old.
It was always a " chore"
We gave up woodburning when oil was .70/ gallon, but are getting back into it now.
I told my 2 sons 21 & 17 that they should sell some wood this year, I have 30+ cord on the ground. So one Saturday in September they set to work, and they were stacking it neatly. I said they should just leave a pile & figure out how many bucket loads make a cord. Their answer was Ok, but this wood's for you! Wow.

As for the girls- they will work till the piles is gone, and they all tried my wifes MS18 saw but don't like it. So they stack & drive the tractor. Neither believes in male oriented work- they both worked constuction and worked hard at it I had all 4 of them on a roof last Christmas break- they aall paid their car insurance that way before going back to college. My younger daughter (now 19) solders pipe when I'm talking with the client for too long. Not as good as her brother, but he's had a lot more experience. I'm lucky they all have good work ethic. Now if I could only find a place to hide that MS18 where she can't find it!

 

[crazy_dan]

my boys are 7 and 8 and they will put in a full days work started when they could walk on their own now at least I do not have to cut down to the 1.5" stuff so they can carry some

 

[Danno77]

Heck yeah, he helps! That freaking Gator cost me (I mean, santa) an arm and a leg, so I better get some use out of it.

 

[dvellone]

No. Any aspect of the process from felling to bucking to splitting and even stacking has too many unpredictable dangers no matter how careful you are.
My kids are too small anyways - 4+6. I would probably think about starting them from the backend first - stacking - and as they get older work them up towards felling by the time their, oh maybe 40? :lol: