What had been a perfectly dry basement no longer is. A new sump pump was installed a couple of months before we moved in, a sump pump that would not discharge clean ground-water into the septic system. Okay, that's a good thing. Problem is, the place for the discharge-water was not properly connected. I found it this morning, with the water just beginning to come in. After two trips to the hardware store, I managed to reduce the problem enough that it didn't keep worsening throughout the day. But when Gary went to the hardware store tonight to do a better fix, neither store had the necessary parts.
I cannot believe how many things I need to learn. And learn fast. Things that I don't have any background in. Things that matter and need to be fixed now. And while we're constantly trying to learn and fix, there's still a need to take care of laundry and meals and all the other regular-life stuff.
When you are teaching children, you have to allow them time to absorb what they're learning. Time for it to "stick" in their brains. Time for them to get it down pat before throwing more at them.
I want that absorption time too!! Old brains do not learn speedily!
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It takes awhile to get to "know" your house. Basement troubles and sump pump troubles are common this time of year, especially this year when it has been soooo wet. When stuff like this happens, and you have to be part of the solution, and you may be feeling guilty about the kids' schooling...just let them be a part of it all. Fixing a sump pump would be a good thing for Paul and Andrew to know...and Maggie could have fun with it too. I feel guilty, sometimes, about Mary's schooling...it is not quite the same as the other kids. However, she is getting tons of mommy skills...from taking care of multiple kids and running a household. These skills will serve her well in future, too. Hopefully, come summer, things will settle down and you won't have anymore suprises...and if you do, you will pick up what you need to know and then next time around it won't seem sooo burdensome.
ReplyDeleteLaura
>>just let them be a part of it all
ReplyDeleteBut how? When you don't know what you're doing, and you're spending hours a day surfing the internet, reading websites, trying to figure out what the problems are, what new problems could be introduced by using this or that solution (and thus needing to avoid that particular "solution"), and which solutions are likely to work best for your particular house and lay of the land and stuff,
HOW do kids help with that? Once all that stuff is figured out, and you can go to the hardware store, buy the piece, and install it, there is a place for help from the kids. But in the meantime, when you've got a none-too-handy female trying to solve all these things on her own, that leaves kids to their own devices for much of the day, and not "learning" from whatever household project is necessary for that day.
Oh no! I totally feel your pain! (See my blog--I have my own water post today that I am glad to say is good news, not bad--but having had years and years of water problems in our house I empathize with you on a gut level.)
ReplyDeleteAnd I also relate to the dilemma of kids left to their own devices too much. I worry about this all the time, even when life is running along pretty much like it should. Because it seems that just the running of the house and the working at my various part-time jobs always seem to take precedence over homeschooling, leaving my kids pretty much teaching themselves. I suppose you could look at this as something positive--that they are so self-sufficient and self-directed that they are able to do it--but I still have guilt about it. I feel like I should have a better sense of what they are learning and how they are progressing than I do. And then there's the 4-year-old, who doesn't get nearly as much sitting on the couch reading with mommy time as the other two did. It just seems my attention is divided among so many more things than it used to be, and he is the one who pays for it.
Sorry--this was your vent and here I am taking it over. Not much help, am I?
I was just thinking about the final stages, I guess. Buying the parts and doing the repair. You could talk about why you are doing it this particular way and see if they agree with the idea. You know guys can see things differently...and some are naturally quite handy. Sometimes it just helps to talk something through with someone and if the kids are around sometimes they can help ease the load. That's all I was thinking.
ReplyDeleteGotcha, Laura. I was just wondering if I was missing something obvious. I hear about people having the kids help with things like this, and I just didn't know HOW. But what you're talking about is, I think, the kind of stuff that we do most of the time... assuming my patience is not altogether shot by the new puzzle/problem.
ReplyDeleteThanks!