Of Fathers, Sons and WeedEaters

Parker has been mowing since last summer. But until his latest growth spurt, he was still too small to handle the weedeater. Finally, Dad decided it was time for him to take that next step to manhood. He told Parker to get his old clothes on and get ready to weedeat. A few minutes later, I found Parker on the back porch, waiting for his dad. One look at his face had me asking, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." he clipped as he swung too hard on the porch swing.
I waited.
"I'm not too happy with Dad right now," he finally continued.
"You don't want to learn how to weedeat?" I asked.
"Yeah, I do. But he's not going to help me. I know he's just going to say, 'Get that whole yard done' and then he's gonna go inside and play an Xbox game while I do all the work."
Hmmm. This would be one of those times that Mom becomes the oil that smooths the friction between the grown man and the growing man.
While there have been times that the man of the house sat on his couch-throne and handed down work orders, I knew this wasn't one of them. So I gently explained that we might be having company that evening and that Dad wanted to build a bonfire and that I knew Dad was planning to stay outside with Parker and teach/supervise the work. The mood lifted just a little.
Dad did come outside and patiently explained the details of trimming a lawn well. And once he got started, Parker must've enjoyed the work. When he ran out of string, Dad told him he could just stop where he was and they would finish the next day, but Parker insisted that he needed to finish 'this one corner'. So Dad taught him how to re-string the machine, then stood back and watched while Parker struggled to start it. I would have stepped in (I was already worried about his arms being tired) but Dad just waited...giving Parker time to fail or succeed on his own. And when the weedeater sputtered to life, Dad looked at me with a proud see-I-told-you, and Parker beamed.
I'd say it was a job well done...for all of us!