Yard work on the weekend

Growing up as a kid, among all my chores, the one I detested the most had to be an hour of weeding.  Nothing that I can remember was a reviled as much as the hour of weeding.  Every time my mother would set the timer and we would have to sit in the flower bed and pull weeds until the timer went "ding".  I am sure I probably spent more time digging in the dirt than actually pulling weeds out of the ground, and now that I have my own children, I am sure that I had to be one of the worst whiner, complainer, excuse makers there ever was when it came to pulling weeds.

So, this past weekend was the first nice day of spring and what was I looking forward to the most...yard work!  I clipped and pruned and cut bushes.  I planted lettuce and beets and peas in the garden and made my daughter help me as you protested in vain because she wanted to go and play with her friends in the neighborhood.  I mowed the lawn front and back and even did the edging to make it look really nice.  The only reason I stopped either Saturday or Sunday was because we had to eat dinner and it was getting dark.  So why the change?

It must be something about being able to see an accomplishment and pride of home ownership I am sure, but honestly, I enjoy it because I get to choose which weds to pull or which shrubs to prune.  I think that is it.  I also enjoy working in the garden with my children, even with all the protests of unfair child labor laws that I am forcing upon them.  Yes, I listened to them complain about how cold, tired, hungry, bored, thirsty, and just plain old wanted to play with their friends one afternoon last October as we planted tulips bulbs in the ground.  They each thought they were beautiful when they bloomed this Spring, and Andrew had even taken a bulb and soaked it in a glass of water with food color to try to change the color of the tulip.  He insists that it is a slightly darker shade of orange than the rest of the tulips.  Delaney complained this weekend as we planted peas, but I know that she will be the first to pick them off the vine and eat them a few weeks from now.

In short, I want the yard to look nice because I was taught that way and it is actually easier to take care of than an overgrown jungle.  But I want my children to learn to take of things too, and that they can grow flowers, fruits, and vegetables, with a little care.