Jafo,
You have great parenting skills! And your sons will become wonderful men I am sure of that! Wow eight yrs. old, I too am raising an 8yr. old, but a little girl, and she is actually my oldest grandchild! I have a total of 4 grands she is the only girl and the only one I am raising, both my boys have sons only! She also has chores, but not as many as your sons. A good work ethic is such a gift for parents to give their children!
When my boys were 2 & 3yrs. old our neighbor had a garden that produced squash before ours, so they gave us some squash. A few days later I look out the front window and there go "MY BOYS" walking down the road hauling along a 5 gallon bucket between them. Well of-course I had to see what they were up to, turns out they were returning the neighbors kindness and were taking them some of our squash in return, they had picked my garden clean of all teeny-tiny newly formed squash about 3/4 in. long!!! And the 5 gallon bucket was indeed overkill, I about passed out laughing.
The boys felt perfectly at home in the garden as they were included in the entire process from tilling & planting right up to fertilizing to harvesting! The hoeing accident was done when they were trying to surprise Mom with their good deed for the day!
They had some more nice surprises for me that summer too, such as finding all the eggs my hens had laid and smashing them against the side of the chicken coop, wooped their little butts for that one!
Then they had this pet goat, well ya' know for some reason that goat wound up being my responsibility, and I used to chase him around his fenced in yard and place a chain around his neck and tie him out in the back yard to a huge cement block so he could munch on fresh grass. Of-course the goat had no idea that I was trying to do him a good deed and he would make me chase him forever before I caught him. So one early evening I am at the kitchen sink; it faced the back yard and what to my wandering eyes did appear? But my goat standing on his hind legs, head down, horns aimed and ready to ram = our neigbbors St. Bernard also in attack mode and on his hind legs!!! (What a sight that was) Well needless to say that goat made his way into my deep freeze shortly thereafter, and even though I cooked that sucker I never touched one bite of it - he even stunk while he roasted PEWWIE!!! I didn't have the internet and cooking forums to ask how to properly cook GOAT!
I love gardening and the whole "earth" thing it makes for such wonderful memories for a family!
Cheers and be happy making those memories this summer, Cathy
You have great parenting skills! And your sons will become wonderful men I am sure of that! Wow eight yrs. old, I too am raising an 8yr. old, but a little girl, and she is actually my oldest grandchild! I have a total of 4 grands she is the only girl and the only one I am raising, both my boys have sons only! She also has chores, but not as many as your sons. A good work ethic is such a gift for parents to give their children!
When my boys were 2 & 3yrs. old our neighbor had a garden that produced squash before ours, so they gave us some squash. A few days later I look out the front window and there go "MY BOYS" walking down the road hauling along a 5 gallon bucket between them. Well of-course I had to see what they were up to, turns out they were returning the neighbors kindness and were taking them some of our squash in return, they had picked my garden clean of all teeny-tiny newly formed squash about 3/4 in. long!!! And the 5 gallon bucket was indeed overkill, I about passed out laughing.
The boys felt perfectly at home in the garden as they were included in the entire process from tilling & planting right up to fertilizing to harvesting! The hoeing accident was done when they were trying to surprise Mom with their good deed for the day!
They had some more nice surprises for me that summer too, such as finding all the eggs my hens had laid and smashing them against the side of the chicken coop, wooped their little butts for that one!
Then they had this pet goat, well ya' know for some reason that goat wound up being my responsibility, and I used to chase him around his fenced in yard and place a chain around his neck and tie him out in the back yard to a huge cement block so he could munch on fresh grass. Of-course the goat had no idea that I was trying to do him a good deed and he would make me chase him forever before I caught him. So one early evening I am at the kitchen sink; it faced the back yard and what to my wandering eyes did appear? But my goat standing on his hind legs, head down, horns aimed and ready to ram = our neigbbors St. Bernard also in attack mode and on his hind legs!!! (What a sight that was) Well needless to say that goat made his way into my deep freeze shortly thereafter, and even though I cooked that sucker I never touched one bite of it - he even stunk while he roasted PEWWIE!!! I didn't have the internet and cooking forums to ask how to properly cook GOAT!
I love gardening and the whole "earth" thing it makes for such wonderful memories for a family!
Cheers and be happy making those memories this summer, Cathy