A few months ago we went on a road trip to visit the prefinishing plant and do a flooring repair at a gorgeous custom home situated right on lake Ontario in St. Catherine’s. It is great taking the kids along with us to see different aspects of the business. Of course, it is always nerve wracking taking them to a customers home… especially Edison. Sorry Eddie, you are just a lot busier than your sister. I was so thrilled when the kids were thoroughly engaged in helping Greg fill knots using the wax repair kit. They each helped their dad for a while before deciding they wanted to move on to other things. The homeowners were so nice and graciously made us feel at home offering fresh baked muffins, tea and juice and welcoming the kids to play with toys they stored in the basement for visits from their grandkids. The kids played while I discussed design with the homeowner. I told her how when we drove up to the house I was in awe. The exterior of the home was done in beautiful cedar shakes with gorgeous windows and trim. I love the Cape Cod look and have always been drawn to this gorgeous esthetic. The homeowners let us tour the property and showed us their beautiful waterfront area. The kids enjoyed picking some smooth round rocks to keep. What is it about kids and rocks? They find so many uses for them. Ophelia literally came home and made a shoebox house for her pet rocks and the novelty still hasn’t worn off. Greg and I laughed about the pet rock fad of the 70s and told Ophelia she should revive it. She made bedding and accessories for her pet rocks from recycled materials. I love this stage of watching our kids imaginations flourish and create simple items that can amuse them for hours.
While visiting the prefinishing plant I had a huge sense of pride as Greg led us around, showed us some materials and projects he has on the go and things he would like to do in the future. With my work schedule and the kids keeping us hopping, it is difficult for me to get to the prefinishing plant but I feel like I know the staff from stories Greg and his dad have shared over the years. It was nice to see everyone and get an inside look at where Greg goes every week when he leaves Tweed at 3am to spend the day walking the line ensuring the stain colour is just right and every floor that is packaged up is a quality product. There is a lot of work that goes into each floor and I am proud of the work Greg and the team do to produce such beautiful hardwood floors.
From making custom thank you cards for our customers to helping with repairs on the road and showroom renovations, we include Ophelia and Edison in the business as much as possible. It is easy to do since we live above the showroom. They are often running around when customers come to visit. Having the kids involved in the business makes me think about a book I was gifted by my sister entitled Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff. I would highly recommend this book to anyone raising young children. I loved reading about parenting practices in different cultures around the world. In many cultures, families work together to care for one another, the household, land and animals. Children participate from an early age in family responsibilities and are eager and happy to work alongside their parents. Greg and I saw this first hand in South America when we travelled to Peru and Ecuador. Young children were often strapped to their mothers backs as they went about their day to day tasks. Another thing we will never forget are the children we saw in Thailand and Laos helping their parents in fields, street vendors or restaurants. One restaurant we recall fondly had such amazing food in Laos. It was a small family business and when I went to use the restroom, I entered the back of the shop covered by a curtain and found the small bathroom with the families toothbrushes placed beside the sink. It was humbling to think this family is sharing their home with their patrons and pouring their hearts into their work. We were always so fascinated and enamoured by the beauty of seeing young children working so closely with their families and so intertwined and accepted as valuable contributing members in their communities. At the time, because I wasn’t a mother yet myself, I didn’t really notice but now looking back, I realized something we never saw was temper tantrums or children acting out. We think of these experiences we had traveling before having our children fondly and we often talk about how we want to travel with our kids and allow them to experience other cultures around the world. I think our Western culture could learn a lot from other cultures. Of course, we don’t always have the opportunity to bring our children to work, have a plot of land to grow our own food, have our own livestock to sustain our families or have extended family live with us or close by. Our Western culture feels very far removed from this but that is what I like about the Hunt, Gather, Parent book. It talks about small changes we can make at home to foster raising children who are productive members of the family and community. I work outside the home and I commute ½ hour to and from work throughout the week. I can’t bring my children along to the office with me. (Although they sometimes try). We utilize before/after school care 3 days a week due to our work schedules. We cannot have our children around 24/7 and we cannot incorporate them in to all aspects of our work but we can implement some strategies to motivate our children to be kind, generous, helpful and productive members of the community. One of the ways we do this is how we talk to our kids. We talk about our family being a team and each of us having a part to contribute. Sort of the old adage many hands make light work. I involve the kids in washing and cutting vegetables for dinner. They love this and are so proud of their work when they help prepare a meal. When there is laundry to sort or a dishwasher to unload, it is an opportunity to engage them in contributing to the family. Instead of a chore chart, we use these situations as opportunities to help. It is so true, kids really do want to help and enjoy being around their parents and helping them do adult things.
Thanks for reading.
Emma