Doing chores / Ain't what it used to be

[BIG DOOLEY]

I hear stories all the time about what life was like growing up on a farm from my dad.
He was the youngest of seven kids.
His mother passed when he was 2 years old and his father at 14.
Running a farm was part of daily life.
His chores were important but not always as difficult as what the older kids had to do.
Milking cows, canning meat-vegetables-fruit, planting and harvesting, hoeing, raising livestock, working horses, making wine, hunting, were all part of day to day living.
I never get tired of hearing how things were done and how family and neighbors pulled together.
My wife grew up on a farm and is no stranger to hard work.
Canning, hoeing, feeding animals, running farm equipment, heating with wood....
We try to raise our children with the idea that every member of the family is special and important.
We each have an important role and responsibilities to make our family complete.
Somehow I think the message is not as clear today about working together and the value gained by learning new responsibilities.
With all the electronins, games, and conveniences I see less and less kids learning how to be self reliant and looking for the easy ticket to problems and life.
Today many people take for granted how easy day to day living is and forget the old days when the grocery store was in the back yard.
This is a picture of my dad in his teens clearing snow.

The family with Grandma pregnant with my father. Picture take by my dads oldest brother.

Grand parents

[riptides]

Excellent pictures. Good for you. Something to pass on.

[joemd11]

BD, those are some really nice pics. Thanks for posting them.

[burnieman]

Back when men were men and Obama wasn't president. Good times

[TripleR]

Good reminder and great pictures. I grew up on a farm and did many of those things, always something to do before going to school and hitting the fields or feeding cattle in the wintertime after getting home from school. We turned our shoes in when we got out of school in the spring and got them back when school started in the fall except for church three times a week.

I had to live and work in the "city" when I grew up, so my kids experienced little of that except on weekends when I took them to cut wood etc. My grand kids are even further removed and don't have a clue what hard work is sadly.

[Mousefield]

Thanks for sharing the pics and story.

[Western]

Thanks for sharing the pics and story.

X's 2

Today, there are few kids that have an acre of ground to play on, let alone do "chores". Most kids (guessing here) can walk 75" out the back door and be in the neighbors yard. The amount of "chores" required these day's has dwindled. I suppose "house" chores are still there though. Today kids get most of what they need through cables that come in from the outside, or through the front door in plastic bags.

I look back when I was a kid and I used to "cuss" having to work in the family garden (50 acres), load hay, walk horses, clean stalls and the like, now at only 50 years old, I feel blessed to have had that time when a young boy.

[TripleR]

X's 2

Today, there are few kids that have an acre of ground to play on, let alone do "chores". Most kids (guessing here) can walk 75" out the back door and be in the neighbors yard. The amount of "chores" required these day's has dwindled. I suppose "house" chores are still there though. Today kids get most of what they need through cables that come in from the outside, or through the front door in plastic bags.

I look back when I was a kid and I used to "cuss" having to work in the family garden (50 acres), load hay, walk horses, clean stalls and the like, now at only 50 years old, I feel blessed to have had that time when a young boy.

I made it a point of taking my sons to the "Farm" on weekends and worked them in the woods. They learned to use an ax, chain saw, splitting maul and wedges, drag brush etc., drive a tractor and during the summers they spent much of that working for their grandfather on his farms. I wanted them to know what a hard days work was and get the satisfaction of a job done well. I am sure there was a lot of mental cursing, they didn't dare do it out loud, but both are now glad I made them do it

[Western]

I made it a point of taking my sons to the "Farm" on weekends and worked them in the woods. They learned to use an ax, chain saw, splitting maul and wedges, drag brush etc., drive a tractor and during the summers they spent much of that working for their grandfather on his farms. I wanted them to know what a hard days work was and get the satisfaction of a job done well. I am sure there was a lot of mental cursing, they didn't dare do it out loud, but both are now glad I made them do it

They are "blessed" also. I cant imagine a guy who grew up having to do all that, then one day sitting in a city job, he has to pull a 12 hr day in the office. He can think back to a 12 hr day hauling hay and say, "this aint noth'n"!

The small sect of our society that has be trending towards "there are no winners and losers" IMO also is setting these kids up for more hardship as an adult, but that is outside the the thread topic I guess.

[TripleR]

They are "blessed" also. I cant imagine a guy who grew up having to do all that, then one day sitting in a city job, he has to pull a 12 hr day in the office. He can think back to a 12 hr day hauling hay and say, "this aint noth'n"!

The small sect of our society that has be trending towards "there are no winners and losers" IMO also is setting these kids up for more hardship as an adult, but that is outside the the thread topic I guess.

It is sad, but today it is hard for a kid to find work like I did. I worked on our farm and also chopped cotton for other farmers as well as worked on two hay crews so I could stay busy and make some money; also picked a bit of cotton. Today with everything mechanized, round balers, chemicals etc., manual labor on farms is hard to find. As a result it is hard to find anyone to work. I have work for teen aged boys on our farms, but after trying several, I haven't found any that want to do anything other than ride my ATV and play grab a** or go swimming in our ponds.

My oldest son was mowing five yards from the time he was nine or ten in addition to working for his grandfather and paid half of his first car, insurance and bought his own motorcycles.