Callapidder Days

One of my summer plans is to assign C. a somewhat-substantial chore each day. He always has the little daily ones, like fixing his bed, cleaning up after his meals, etc.  But during the summer, each day will contain a chore that might be a little harder, take a little longer…

(I’m sure he’ll thank me for this someday, right? Okay, maybe not. But perhaps his wife will thank me for this someday.)

Yesterday’s chore was weeding. Loads of fun.

In my recent state of being absorbed by potty training, I’ve completely ignored certain areas of the household. Including, apparently, the entire south side of our house. I had no idea that the nice, neat mulch on that side of the house had become a veritable jungle of weeds. Tufts of grasses, rambling flowery weeds, and truly nasty prickly plants had taken over. So, lucky C., he got to don the gardening gloves and attack them.

He was not exactly pleased.

The problems were plentiful.

First, the gardening gloves are technically mine, so they’re a little big for him. Getting a grip on weeds took a little practice.

Second, the prickly plants were exceedingly prickly, going so far as to stab him through the gloves if he wasn’t careful.

Third, what kind of mean mom makes her kid weed while she’s inside eating lunch? (Me, that’s who.)

Fourth, there was a monstrous weed. Seriously monstrous. Its stem was about an inch thick and it was covered in thorns and pricklers. Scary-looking. Let’s just say I’m glad it wasn’t my job to get that weed out of the ground.

C. made several trips inside to inform me of the obstacles before him. I encouraged him to keep working, keep trying.

He made one trip inside to nurse a thorn-inflicted wound. I expressed sympathy.

He asked me three times to please not give him the weeding job very often. I smiled but made no promises.

He made two trips inside to tell me he was done. However, after an official inspection, I had to show him weeds he missed and tell him to keep working. That, my friends, is a sure-fire way to elicit an eye-roll, a heavy sigh, or a grumble of complaint from a 10-year-old.

Finally, the Miserable Task of Weeding was complete…except for the monstrous weed. C. had tried and tried, but that weed wasn’t budging. Its roots had grown deep and it was not going to give up its pleasant, sunny location without a fight.

So we pulled out the big guns and I introduced C. to the wonder that is Roundup. He sprayed the leaves, sprayed the root, sprayed all around. And we left the weed to die in peace.

C. didn’t ask me why we didn’t use Roundup on ALL the weeds instead of forcing him to pull out weeds by hand, but if he’d asked me, I might have said one of the following:

1. Completing challenging chores builds confidence and character.
2. Personally contributing to the running of the family and household helps kids realize they’re an important part of the team.
3. Roundup costs money; making kids pull weeds does not. [Okay, I might not have mentioned that last fact -- it surely would have elicited more than a heavy sigh or eye-roll.]

I have to say, C. went through a definite attitude change as his task went on. He began with foreboding, moved quickly to discouragement, probably felt a twinge or two of annoyance (at the weeds, of course, not toward me…I think). But then, as the job neared completion, he perked up. And when I finally proclaimed the weeding to be Finished, he not only felt relief, he also felt accomplishment. The garden looked fantastic, he could now move on to something more fun, and he had conquered the weeds.

As a mom, I have to admit that when it comes to some household jobs, it’s so much easier to just do them myself (or decide they don’t really need to be done) than to assign them to the kids as chores. The supervision, the potential for arguments, the uncertain end-result can all scare me off. But I know it’s worth it.

When C. is an adult, he might live in a city apartment and never have to deal with a single weed. But he’ll still have to contribute to the running of a household, he’ll have to know how to stick with a task until it’s finished, and he’ll need the experience to know that if he puts forth his best effort, much can be accomplished.

And today, we have a nice-looking garden to prove it.