Work Together

Before my grandma died she told me about how she wanted to write a story about her family when her children were growing up.  She lived on a dairy farm.  Among the many chores, there were cows to feed, fields to plow, hay to get in, calves to deliver and gardens to tend.  My grandma remembered that time as precious. Most people see working on a farm as work, but she found joy in it.  The greatest joy she had was in working together with her family.  She said they would work together and play together.

Her thoughts about this time in her life stayed with me.  Since the very beginning of my marriage life, I kept this in my mind.  When my girls were very young I made two containers.  In one container was a pile of note cards containing pictures of rooms in our home and what chores needed to be done in those rooms.  The other container had a pile of note cards containing pictures of fun things that we could do together: have a tea party, color, make cookies, play a game, watch a show, go for a walk, read a book and other fun ideas like that.  We would pick a card from the chore container and go to that room and clean it together.  Then we would pick a card from the fun container and go play together. We would go back and forth between the containers a few times each day we had an opportunity.

Now that my girls are older we still work together.  They are helpful around the house, they enjoy working with us and they have amazing attitudes about it.  They are willing to learn new things and have learned we are good teachers.  We can help them understand things sooner than if we let them flail on their own.  I'm so thankful for my grandma's words.  I'm thankful that I can pass on her legacy or good work ethic to my girls.

We will always work together and play together and I hope they remember to make time for play amidst the work.