When Work Can be Turned Into Fun

Boys will be boys and if you want to have a hot dog party, someone has to clean up the yard and gather firewood. Boys love nothing better than to figure a way out of work, that is, unless it involves working toward a rewarding goal that will provide a suitable amount of entertainment and food.

When my boys visited me from the south the other day, they wanted the annual bonfire and hot dog party. Parties are fine, but when you have a lot of work to do, such as a big six acre yard to cleanup, then something has to give. I have been putting off that cleaning job all winter and I wasn’t about to tackle it with company staying over.

I gave the situation a lot of thought and then I remembered Tom Sawyer and the picket fence. As a smile broke across my solemn face, I got a great idea and went to the barn to get my Bristor ATV wagon. Check out one of my other uses for this utility vehicle. I loaded the back with rakes, shovels and a couple of buckets and drove out to the backyard and slowly began piling leaves and debris into the bed of my great, little vehicle. I wrote slowly on purpose. The boys came running out to see what I was doing and when I told them that I was cleaning up the yard in order to have a hot dog party, they didn’t hesitate a minute before they grabbed a bucket and rake and began working. It didn’t take me long to figure out that they didn’t need me and I stepped aside and became a driver to deliver the material to the burn pile.

The boys didn’t even think about the size of the job or how long it would take, they took over and cleaned up the lot and began looking for firewood. I didn’t have to say a word, they were ready and willing to get the job done and had a lot of fun doing it. To top it off, the hot dogs were great and as a kicker, a neighbor boy who lives next door saw my boys working and having a good time and came over and joined in. He stayed for the bonfire and his share of hot dogs too.

Big jobs with no goal in mind are simply a big problem, but jobs that can be done with a smile and a laugh seems small and time goes by very fast. As we go through life, we should learn to make everything we do a happy and pleasant event and we will have very few complaints. In order to feel good, we have to be good and in order to be good, we have to do good. As it turned out, my big put off, job was in reality, a fun and playtime just waiting for the right people and the right time. When our cleanup was finished we stood back with a huge sense of accomplishment and a feeling of satisfaction, while looking forward to our reward and it was good.

I was thinking as I watched the smiles of satisfaction on the boy’s faces and realized that we all had learned something that would last us a lifetime. We worked toward a common goal, we enjoyed working together and each person in the group reached a level of satisfaction that left a good feeling. Even the neighbor boy had a good time and he made a perfect match for our team.

Time will tell, but I will bet that the boys will be begging for a return trip next spring. Guess what? I won’t even think about raking up the leaves until they come to see me.