We have gone through a dozen kids on the farm just with painting and household chores and sometimes stacking wood in the basement back when they had the big oil/wood furnace. But the kids were hard to keep active His famous saying was "Those dang computer games"
When I was a young teenager, I worked for my Dad over the summers, mowing the farm lawns, and that's quite a bit of grass to mow. I rarely got paid, we considered it rent for the farm allowing me to raise my own personal 4-H projects in barns that were seldom used. (We did not own the farm.) At the time, I was pretty mad about working for "free". I now see it a bit differently. I spent a LOT of time on the end of a weedwacker, mowing laneways, roadsides and fencerows too. Why buy a bushhog if you have a 14 year-old kid and a $200 weedeater right? When I got my first "real" job, taking care of an estate in addition to some farm work, I was thrilled to not be working for Dad anymore. Finally, a regular paycheck! I could cover more fenceline, trees, lawn, and just get more done without breaking things than any of the other kids working on the place. You could sit me on a 4020 with a baler or combine behind it or the big mowers we had, and I was equally at home either way. I would shovel corn or rake leaves, take your pick. I could detail cars or back/park wagons. (Anybody who has tried parking a farm wagon knows why that is challenging, they should make a video game for it! ) It was that kind of utility and desire to work that allowed me to work weekends and after school long after everybody else had been laid off for the season. I was able to save and buy my own vehicles (I bummed rides from other employees and rode my bike the two miles or so for the first year and a half.) and never asked my parents for a DIME (ok, maybe a nickle.... wait -- nope, ) for gas, food, dates (few and far between those were! ) or even the basics like clothes. There is something to be said for that sense of self-reliance. Even to this day, my wife has no problem asking her parents for favors, having her mom run errands for her, watching our son while she works/I sleep, and while we were considering a second story addition to our home, she wanted to borrow a sizable amount of money from them. I put my foot down and said NO! We will make do with what we have and do the addition or move when WE can afford it. Old habits die hard I guess.
Good job MM, giving him the opportunity. It reminds me of a kid in my neighborhood when I was growing up. He started out mowing lawns for the elderly folks with a push mower. By the end of the summer he had a small riding tractor that he drove to each house and picked up a few more accounts. The next summer he had a small trailer with rake, shovel and lopping shears. He eventually moved up and bought a beater truck. He eventually went to work for a professional landscaper in town. That kid had saw the results of a good work ethic. As far a computers and electronic games, we have "electronic free" days here and I put the kids to work helping out.
I'll bet as you get to know your new buddy, some of your life stories will get into the mix. You'll have his undivided attention cause you're not Dad. My son had good reason to like working for anyone else other than me… whenever he'd squawk about how hard it was, or why HE had to do it… the work load always mysteriously would get bigger. Didn't take him long to realize all he got was praise when he worked for anyone else, as long as he did a good job. I just can't figure out why he liked that praise more than having more work to do… (He got praise from me too, but he really had to go hard to get it) MM… I'd bet on your son anyday with you coaching…
Awesome job man. its is definitely hard to get the younger generation motivated even some of the people my age (32) are about as useless as teets on a boar hog. I say that and hope my boys don't turn out that way. they help out a lot now cause I make it fun I guess. Need more people like you though many people would have blown him off as a burden. good job
I'd bet on your boys too Jet. You get it. Dad's that understand usually "grow" apples that didn't fall far from the tree.
I did the same (my wife too) with my Dad too… I was 36 when he passed. A great man as well. As they say, in the baseball game of life "we're up"…
