Since it is finally Spring here, we decided to get outside and do some much needed work in our big yard last Saturday. Vince & I spent some time getting the garden ready for planting. (Well, actually Vince did much of the getting ready; I was more on meal patrol and clean-up duty!) And since it's spring, the grass in our yard has been taken over by our lovely friends: dandelions. Now, I must say, who can deny the beauty in a sea of these happy yellow flowers in a country field:
The problem comes when they are in our yard. And especially since no child can resist the urge to pluck an aging dandelion, make a wish, and blow away their troubles with the scattered seeds:
Everyone has this experience. Doesn't it flood your mind with memories from doing this as a kid? But we just didn't want kids experiencing this in our yard, spreading those nasty seeds to grow into more pesky weeds. So Vince came up with the brilliant plan to have the kids help out by plucking the flowers off. He told them that for every flower they pluck, he'd give them 5 cents! Well, the kids took to the challenge, and while Vince worked, they wandered around and pulled dandelion heads in the yard.
Not surprisingly, Evan bored of this little game very quickly. We had to keep reminding him to put more in his cup so he could earn money for...whatever we could think of that might motivate him. Also not surprisingly, Brooke didn't really need any convincing that this was a good idea. She already had a Littlest Pet Shop stuffed animal in mind that kept her plucking away at those flowers.
By the end of the day, we counted and sorted into piles. Evan ended up earning $1 for his 20 flowers. Brooke surprised us all. She ended up with $16!! Do the quick math--that's 320 dandelions she picked! We were both pretty surprised. Next time I think we'll make each worth a penny!
8 comments:
$16?!? Can I come pull weeds at your house?
My neighbor in West Jordan did that with their kids - but at a penny each, instead. Yeah, $16 - I think Brooke earned her Little Petshop animal, huh?
I already told you this, but wow!
I'll be right over. I'm pretty sure I could pick more than 320 dandelions in an hour...that's pretty good pay ; )!
Yeah. It really is not bad for a six-year old! And the thing that surprised me is that there are still SO MANY of them out there! *sigh* So please, come on over!!
Ah yes...it is the quiet ones that you have to keep the closest eye on, after all. But a good work ethic in your child is a very desirable goal, and worth $16.
I remember picking dandelions for my dad and he would pay us by the bucket. Sometimes my brother and I would dig up a big old clump of crab-grass and put it in the bottom of the bucket to take up a lot of room and then fill the top half with the dandelions. Of course we thought we were fooling dad, but looking back now, I am sure he knew.
Oh, and although this is already a very long comment, an interesting side note is that whenever we did this job for my dad he would always tell us the story about eating dandelion greens when he was a boy during the Great Depression, because his widowed mother was too poor to buy food. So have Brookie harvest a few for her Grammie, will you, for family history sake?
According to Jake's grandma, I found out last Sunday that dandelions cure cancer. (No, she was not joking. She reads the most amazing articles.)
What a sweet post-and a great idea! I think I will have my kids do that too (although I don't think we have quite as many dandelions in our yard)! I hope all your hard work pays off and that your yard ends up looking great this summer!
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