All Together

I really like the house we are living in now, but the yard is bigger than I originally thought. This becomes more evident every time that I mow and especially now that we are raking leaves and pine straw. It seems to be a never ending chore that we have been at for about three weeks now. We decided earlier this week that it would be a family effort on Friday and told our girls that they would be helping. They weren't overjoyed at the prospect, but understood the need to help out.

We had one daughter (and my wife) managing the burn pile while the other two and I raked things up and carted them over to the fire. I got an early start on it and managed to move quite a bit before they joined me. I will admit that there was part of me that just wanted to keep doing it myself. I had a good rhythm and was able to move it more quickly than they could. I realize however, that my solo act doesn't help them at all. It would remove an opportunity for us to do something together. It would eliminate a moment for conversation about important things and isolate us from interaction with each other. It would deny me a chance to let them know how much I appreciate their contribution and for them to see our work ethic. Instead, we were able to look out at a yard that we all worked to improve and see that our combined efforts brought results. It's the way that I feel we're supposed to lead as parents and I'm praying it provided something that lasts beyond the time shared today.

Isn't that the hope of our parenting anyway?