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It can be fun to spend time with your kids no matter what you are doing. I need to remind myself of this from time to time when I'm trying to finish a job and my six year old starts asking to play with me. Well, last weekend, in the hot, steamy, mosquito-laced, dusty afternoon, I donned long sleeves, pants and gloves to cut up the large branches I had pruned off the trees earlier in the day from our front yard. There were a lot of branches. I should have hired someone else to do it, but suddenly found the time which eluded me over the preceding three years, to bring out the ladder and pruner, when faced with the alternative of heading up the family team during our neighborhood sub-division's triennial garage sale. Anyway, I've got my trusty pruning saw and gloves, and am breaking branches into the four foot lengths our disposal service requires for these type of pick-ups, when my six year old comes out and asks if she can help.

The first thing I thought was, "oh great, nothing will get done now." I asked her to put the four foot cut branches into bundles I could tie with twine. But the bundles kept falling apart and she couldn't pull branches from the large stack without getting scratches from the twigs in the large pile. So I showed her how to tie a knot with twine to one branch length and use it to start the bundles. But she couldn't tie the knot. So I tied the knots and showed her how to roll the cut branches into a bundle held loosely by the twine, but the bundles were too heavy and unwieldy for her to roll. So I rolled them. Then I showed her how to pull the twine tight so I could make a final knot and have a finished bundle ready for putting out at the curb for pick-up the next day. But she wasn't strong enough to pull the twine tight enough. So I asked her to hold on to the branch ends I was cutting into shorter lengths and keep them steady, while I used the pruning saw. But that was too boring for her - she wanted to use the saw herself. But she wasn't strong enough to use the pruning saw, and I figured my wife would kill me if she saw me letting our six year old handle a pruning saw (now you understand whey this story is written under a pseudonym).

Anyway, I only got half the job done until the mosquitoes and heat got to both of us. But afterword, as we walked into the house together, she gave me a hug and said "Thanks Dad, that was fun!" And you know what? It was, because of her.

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