THE YARD NEEDS WEEDING
Of all the things a kid can do or say, “I’m bored” is the one thing that chaffs my butt the most.
It is a parent’s duty to feed and clothe their offspring. It is a parent’s duty to keep a roof over his family’s head. It is not a parent’s duty to constantly entertain or provide entertainment for their children.
Children have an imagination; give them a ball of string and a piece of wood and they will find something to play with for hours. A large box to a toddler is a multipurpose toy with endless possibilities. How is a child ever bored?
They are not bored, they just want attention. When you have the time, give them attention, hell, that is fun, but often you don’t have time. That is when, “I’m bored” will throw you over the edge.
I may not handle the “I’m bored” issue very well.
“You’re bored? I’ll show you bored; how about I send you to Podunkastan to work in a sneaker factory for twelve hours a day…those kids are never bored!”
This warning never worked. My kids knew I couldn’t afford to send them to Pakistan.
My mom handled the issue much better.
Mom always had a garden. She grew tomatoes and flowers. The garden always needed weeding. We had a lot of grass. We had a lot of dandelions. The lawn always needed weeding.
I don’t remember ever having garden fresh tomatoes for dinner, or fresh cut roses to make the house look and smell pretty. I do remember the garden and the lawn always needed weeding. Mom weeded a lot. I think she found it therapeutic, at least more so then cooking, washing, or cleaning.
I hated weeding the garden and the lawn. We couldn’t use weed killer, I don’t know why. We never mulched or put down that weed stopping paper, I don’t know why, and we didn’t have any fancy weed eater machines or tools I see advertised on TV. Hell, they might even have been fun to use. No, we had a hunk of “V” shaped metal on the end of a rod for which to pry out dandelions and assorted garden weeds.
This tool required you to work from your knees. We had no knee pads, I don’t know why. We had no garden gloves, I don’t know why. I hated weeding, I do know why. I hated those dandelions whose roots grew to China. I especially hated those hairy stemmed weeds that made you itch like hell. I hated weeding.
I learned not to tell my mom “I’m bored.”
Whenever I told my mom I was bored, she always had the same answer.
“The yard needs weeding.”
Your mum was onto something, I used to hand weed our small lawn, it is therapeutic and I find dishwashing therapeutic also. I know, I'm crazy, but dishwashing soothes me. Most of the time. There are some things even a sink full of suds can't fix.
ReplyDeleteHow true, some things are just better left unsaid! I saw a bunch of green growing up between the rocks in my yard! How dare those weeds grow through all those layers of week cloth I laid out last year, I thought! I headed out to yank them out of the ground and discovered they are 30 or 40 California Poppy plants! Reprieve! I came back in and sanded down the bathroom cabinets to paint!
ReplyDeleteThinking about it, I reckon I would have preferred weeding to polishing the furniture. Jeez, according to my mother I never got it right!
ReplyDeleteA wise woman who kept her yard open to weeds so her kids would never be bored. I know why lol.
ReplyDeleteI was often bored as a kid and sometimes still am as an adult. But, nothing is more boring than weeding!
ReplyDeleteYes, I made the “I’m bored” faux pas once when I was a kid. My but was outside cleaning wet chicken poop from beneath the roost and putting it on the garden.
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t the smartest tool in the elevator but I NEVER told my mother I was bored after that.
A tool just like that is my best friend when i am weeding for Mr. BA. Weeding can be theraputic for me, it keeps me on my knees and gives me thinking and praying time. It helps that Mr. BA pays me.
ReplyDeleteYou were smart to hold that I'm bored routine with your mom and your mom was smart about it when you did. I love your mom.
ReplyDeleteI hate weeding too. I'd rather clean the toilets than weed.
Have a fabulous day, Joe. ☺
Yep, chores are the sure-cure for boredom. Our daughters learned that very early on, they were seldom bored!
ReplyDeleteAh yes I also remember many hours in the garden pulling weeds, although when I was growing up we didn't get bored, we did our chores and entertained ourselves outside most of the day.
ReplyDeleteYou weren't alone. I'm guessing there were thousands of kids who ran away to join the circus just to avoid weeding the yard.
ReplyDeleteLoved your mom's fool proof solution. I don't remember being bored as a child. Might have been, just don't remember. Now days I guess kids just pull out their connected device and play games, text, or surf the Net. Wouldn't hurt them to pull a few weeds.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid the response was "Go outside and blow the stink off!" We grew up thinking we smelled bad.
ReplyDeleteSince I live in THE COUNTRY, where you can never get rid of all the weeds...maybe I could start a summer day camp for mothers who don't haven enough weeds of their own. Hick could even run a bus service, picking up kids in his homemade trailer!
ReplyDeleteyou had very wise mom
ReplyDeletei am still at mantle state where i never feel bore as work and chores are endless what fears me most the day when my body will not be able to support my enthusiasm and i decided that i will take sleeping pills or any kind of pills to sleep peacefully without being burden for any one else
I learned that same lesson early in life!
ReplyDelete