Having a Threenager Around

Running a farm is tough. Throw in a three and a half year old and it is even tougher. Don’t get me wrong, I love the kid, but he can definitely make doing chores a real chore! Other times it is really fun having him out there. It is really all or nothing.

Originally that was part of the draw of doing this. I could be a stay-at-home-mom and work! Unfortunately we quickly realized that it is a lot harder having him out there than we initially thought. Now he is in daycare twice a week and with the in-laws another day. Also it is great that Joe works from home most days, so if we are really stuck with J being sick or, it is too cold out for him he can stay inside.

I get up at 5 a.m. every day and eat breakfast then go out to feed the horses about 6. At around 7 after everyone is out, I head in the house to get the munchkin up. Fortunately he is often a late sleeper! He gets up and I get him breakfast. On days that I don’t have him this is when I take him to daycare or his grandparents’. On days I do have him, it is out to the barn together. Either way I am out there around 8:30 and am doing chores until around 10.

The rest of the day is filled with running house and barn errands, and doing house and barn work; cleaning, fencing, arena maintenance etc. and riding my own horse until 4 when I feed the horses dinner. It is a funny how J always complains about going out to the barn in the morning, but then desperately wants to go with me when I feed in the evening. He does like helping pour grain into buckets.

Mid-winter is obviously a bit different than the rest of the year. Yard work and manure runs are replaced by plowing and ice removal, and the horses aren’t out as long. Some days J stays in because it is no fun for him to be out there in frigid temperatures.

He loves to pretend to help, often asking for his fork that is just his size and his mini wheelbarrow. Sometimes he even manages to dump some manure on the pile. More often he spends his time finding all of the double end snaps, lead lines, chains, and halters and clipping them all together along with any other barn objects that look interesting. Maybe soon he will be able to actually help with barn chores instead of me having to pick up after him and clean him up after! I couldn’t ask for a better way for my son to grow up, though.