When I was a little girl, it was not unusual for all of my family to be outside together working in the garden in the evenings or the weekends. We were often together working on all sorts of projects. My parents even flipped houses for awhile and I loved when I went to the houses with them and helped paint, mow, or whatever we were doing that particular day.

My children have not had those experiences. We rarely work all together on a project. I usually have them all doing their own projects. I recently came to the realization that that may be why they don’t work well together. It may also be the reason that there is some resentment between some of the children.

We needed to really weed and mulch our yard before Easter. I used this as an opportunity to all work together. We all worked outside picking up sticks, pulling weeds, mulching, planting new plants, and pressure washing. The yard looks so much better and there was very little (much less than usual) fighting that day. I think that we all really benefited from working together. I’m planning on tackling our basement next. I just might have found a way to build better relationships within our family and get projects done as well!