This past weekend we were blessed to have the family of family come all the way from up north to help us with some yard work and give me gardening advice. This nice couple also brought chainsaws and tree cutting equipment much to my husband's delight. That meant he'd finally have some help and guidance tackling the big fallen willow tree in our yard. I was relieved as we'd planned a lot of "events" at our house this year (a reunion, a homeschool group campout, an annual rummage sale, etc). I was happy to see that monster of a tree get dissected into more manageable chunks! What struck me as amazing in the midst of all this was watching my SIL help with all the tree debris. She grew up helping do this kind of stuff on a tree farm and, although she hasn't done it in a long time, she still knew what to do and how without being told or asked. I have never seen her work so hard at anything. It was astounding to me. I was raised in such a way that looking at that fallen tree seemed an impossible thing to conquer. Had I been given the task of researching something, passing a test, something like that...no problem. But something big and physical seemed untouchable. I would've instinctively gone to look up in a book or online how one should remove a tree and then resigned to call "professionals"...lol...while she knew just start hauling one piece at a time, one log - one branch - one anything at a time until the job was done. That said something to me. That if you equip kids with real life experience, real hands-on knowledge they won't lose it. That kind of knowledge is so incredibly valuable. For all my booksmarts and "capability" should I get lost in the woods or left alone somewhere, I'd be a gonner. Somewhere there is a balance. Teaching kids real life skills early on and also guiding them to research what you can't teach them so they'll have the confidence that they can do anything set before them. I hope someday my kids will be the type to know how to dig right in and help with any tough task. I on the other hand mostly stood by watching feeling unable to help (I was wearing the baby in a sling! :-) ). It did give me some needed courage though to tackle a few other daunting projects...
