Farmer Boy
I love books for so many reasons. I love them for what you can learn in the comfort of your own home for free. I love them for the different realities they can transport me to and their ability to expand my understanding of others... and myself. I love them because they help me sit down and relax. But I've found another reason to love them lately. They help my son Rowan connect with someone who he identifies with.
I have been reading the wonderful Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder to Rowan, who is 6 now. It took a bit to tear him away from his obsession with Star Wars and Transformers books. I did have to push a bit for the first book in the series, Little House in the Big Woods. But once we were into the second book, he was as hooked as I was. Now neither of us can wait to find out what is next for these familiar characters... Laura, Mary, baby Carrie, Ma and Pa... and also Laura's future husband, Almonzo Wilder in Farmer Boy.
After the first few books, we leave the Ingalls Family adventure on the prairie and meet Almonzo. Someday, he will be married to Laura. But for now, we learn about his childhood growing up on a farm in New York. Unlike his older brother who wants to be a shop keeper, Almonzo LOVES being a farmer boy. He takes great pride in the jobs he does on his family farm as an 8 year old and just wants MORE responsibility... especially with the horses. He LOVES horses. But we hear how he helps plant and harvest crops, threshes wheat, cares for livestock, hauls wood and helps with house work. We also hear a lot about how hungry Almonzo gets! In fact, it seems like every chapter spends some time describing him feeling 'empty inside'... but it also explains in great detail the FEAST his mother feeds him at nearly every meal. Really, this family does work hard, but they eat very well too. It's so like an 8 year old boy to focus on his hunger and his mom's cooking. After getting up before sunrise on a school day to do chores including milking cows, his mother feeds them all a breakfast which includes oatmeal, sausage patties AND apple pie... all in the same meal. Even though most of our reading time takes place at bedtime, not long after dinner, these long descriptions of wonderful farm meals make Rowan 'sooooooo hungry' just listening to it. I ask him if he wants to be a farmer boy like Almonzo. He replies, 'YES!... Especially if it means you'll make all that wonderful food for me!'
In the summertime, Rowan is expected to do a fair few jobs at our place. He lets the chickens out before breakfast. The afterwards, he has about 45 minutes worth of other jobs that range from watering, caring for animals, and taking out the recycling. I try every night to make out a little card of chores he needs to finish and how many cents he will get when he is finished. (He is ALWAYS saving for something that I won't buy him, so this is a great incentive.) I give him the tools he needs and leave him to do it. Even before school, he cares for chickens and a few other jobs. While he might whine a bit before he heads out, he always does a remarkably good job at his chores and returns to the house with what looks to me like great sense of accomplishment, and an obvious improvement in his sense of self. He also seems more awake and less restless.
Having this friend in Almonzo is really helpful for him. Most of Rowan's friends get to join in on the little league and soccer teams in town. He doesn't. I'm certainly not against sports... those of you who know me know they were my refuge in school. But we made a choice when we moved 5 miles out of town and took on this farm thing. We decided to create more life at home instead of going out for it all the time. So I'm unwilling to make a 10 mile round trip 2-3 times per week for a 6 year old to play organized sports when he can run and play on the huge plots of land we and our neighbors live on. I can see he feels a little left out sometimes. But he never seems to miss it until he hears all the places his friends get to go. Grass is greener... ya know.
But when we read our books at night, he talks about how he is like Almonzo and how he wants a bit more for breakfast in the morning and asks why I don't serve pie and sausage with breakfast. (I'm also starting to think this is a good idea.) He seems to get transported to Almonzo's farm and imagines himself given all these real farm jobs to do (and these big, wonderful meals). I imagine that it is giving him an idea of where this is all going, and how there is real value in it for him. A cool, older boy who's into the things Rowan is into. Although he still gets a big jealous of his friends driving into town to play on soccer and baseball teams, these books help him see how his life is also fun and meaningful in its own way. And I'm grateful for that. I don't necessarily WANT my kids to grow up and be farmers, but I do hope they can play an active role in ours until they grow up. I'm sure that in a few more years, I'll be driving in for soccer.
I have been reading the wonderful Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder to Rowan, who is 6 now. It took a bit to tear him away from his obsession with Star Wars and Transformers books. I did have to push a bit for the first book in the series, Little House in the Big Woods. But once we were into the second book, he was as hooked as I was. Now neither of us can wait to find out what is next for these familiar characters... Laura, Mary, baby Carrie, Ma and Pa... and also Laura's future husband, Almonzo Wilder in Farmer Boy.
After the first few books, we leave the Ingalls Family adventure on the prairie and meet Almonzo. Someday, he will be married to Laura. But for now, we learn about his childhood growing up on a farm in New York. Unlike his older brother who wants to be a shop keeper, Almonzo LOVES being a farmer boy. He takes great pride in the jobs he does on his family farm as an 8 year old and just wants MORE responsibility... especially with the horses. He LOVES horses. But we hear how he helps plant and harvest crops, threshes wheat, cares for livestock, hauls wood and helps with house work. We also hear a lot about how hungry Almonzo gets! In fact, it seems like every chapter spends some time describing him feeling 'empty inside'... but it also explains in great detail the FEAST his mother feeds him at nearly every meal. Really, this family does work hard, but they eat very well too. It's so like an 8 year old boy to focus on his hunger and his mom's cooking. After getting up before sunrise on a school day to do chores including milking cows, his mother feeds them all a breakfast which includes oatmeal, sausage patties AND apple pie... all in the same meal. Even though most of our reading time takes place at bedtime, not long after dinner, these long descriptions of wonderful farm meals make Rowan 'sooooooo hungry' just listening to it. I ask him if he wants to be a farmer boy like Almonzo. He replies, 'YES!... Especially if it means you'll make all that wonderful food for me!'
In the summertime, Rowan is expected to do a fair few jobs at our place. He lets the chickens out before breakfast. The afterwards, he has about 45 minutes worth of other jobs that range from watering, caring for animals, and taking out the recycling. I try every night to make out a little card of chores he needs to finish and how many cents he will get when he is finished. (He is ALWAYS saving for something that I won't buy him, so this is a great incentive.) I give him the tools he needs and leave him to do it. Even before school, he cares for chickens and a few other jobs. While he might whine a bit before he heads out, he always does a remarkably good job at his chores and returns to the house with what looks to me like great sense of accomplishment, and an obvious improvement in his sense of self. He also seems more awake and less restless.
Having this friend in Almonzo is really helpful for him. Most of Rowan's friends get to join in on the little league and soccer teams in town. He doesn't. I'm certainly not against sports... those of you who know me know they were my refuge in school. But we made a choice when we moved 5 miles out of town and took on this farm thing. We decided to create more life at home instead of going out for it all the time. So I'm unwilling to make a 10 mile round trip 2-3 times per week for a 6 year old to play organized sports when he can run and play on the huge plots of land we and our neighbors live on. I can see he feels a little left out sometimes. But he never seems to miss it until he hears all the places his friends get to go. Grass is greener... ya know.
But when we read our books at night, he talks about how he is like Almonzo and how he wants a bit more for breakfast in the morning and asks why I don't serve pie and sausage with breakfast. (I'm also starting to think this is a good idea.) He seems to get transported to Almonzo's farm and imagines himself given all these real farm jobs to do (and these big, wonderful meals). I imagine that it is giving him an idea of where this is all going, and how there is real value in it for him. A cool, older boy who's into the things Rowan is into. Although he still gets a big jealous of his friends driving into town to play on soccer and baseball teams, these books help him see how his life is also fun and meaningful in its own way. And I'm grateful for that. I don't necessarily WANT my kids to grow up and be farmers, but I do hope they can play an active role in ours until they grow up. I'm sure that in a few more years, I'll be driving in for soccer.
My farmer boy selling eggs with his sister. Going for the hard sell.
Good Job Rowan!
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