Marci 2, Rich 0 - and that's a good thing!

This weekend we were working in the yard a lot. We bought a bunch of rocks (which is a strange concept - buying rocks...) to make a path and had lots left over. We placed some around one area of the house then decided we needed to get some border stuff. These are plastic brick looking rectangle things that have two stakes you hammer into the ground to keep them in place.

First Riley wanted to help hammer them in. I was tired, it had been a long day, and I was afraid he'd miss a lot and break a stake or something, so I said no. Marci told me to just let him have a try. I said no and told her why. She said that was silly and I should let him try. Again, I was tired, got mad, a few more dumb conversations went on and I threw down the hammer saying, "Fine! He can hammer one in!", which bounced over and hit Maddie's leg - fortunately for me, not badly, just a little tap. She was more surprised than hurt. Ya, that was pretty stupid of me to get so mad and do something so freakishly stupid. So I let Riley hammer a stake in.

He did a great job! I was now mad because I got so mad at something so dumb and I was quite wrong, he wasn't breaking them or causing any harm. That was really, REALLY stupid of me to not let him at least try it. So we finished all of them where I would pound in the first stake and he'd pound in the 2nd. And it was fun doing that together!

Marci 1, Rich 0.

Then Maddie wanted to try. I again said no because it would be too hard for her. Marci again said to let her have a try. I didn't want to, but saw how wrong I was about Riley, so let her have a try (while grumbling about it). In this case, it WAS too hard for her, she just couldn't swing the hammer hard enough. BUT, when she saw it was too hard, she was ok with not doing it! That shocked me. I thought she was going to throw a fit and want to keep doing it even though she couldn't. Nope, she was now fine with just watching.

Marci 2, Rich 0.

Moral of all this for me was that even if I'm tired, I should let the kids try things. Sometimes they will surprise me with how well they do and how well they act. Mostly, I shouldn't act like a 3 yr old and throw a hammer at the ground - I was lucky no one got hurt. At first I just wanted to finish it quickly, but I ended up having a lot of fun with Riley helping me.

Man, I hate it when I'm so stupid. Thankfully I have Marci to keep me in line. ;)