October 16, 2006 - Sunday
More father-son bonding at the old house...
I had some minor maintenace and repair work to do at the old house, mostly getting the boilers ready for sold whether and a couple other things, and could have brought the boys to the Archives. But it seemed like stuff that I'll increasing want them to help with as the years go by, so I kept them with me. We drained the rust out of the two boilers and filled them with water, the boys watching the level rise in the glass cylinder. We repaired a door knob and screwed back on the face plate, and I checked a light with a broken-off pull chord. The boys watched me do that one, standing up on a chair. I was just taking a lot inside and not doing any work (I figure the whole unit needed and was just making sure) and didn't bother to turn off the circuit breaker. It was safe because I was careful not to go anywhere near the wires. But I probably shouldn't have taking the time to do it anyway, even if it meant a couple of trips to the basement and finding the right breaker (they're mostly unmarked in this old house) just so the boys would take it seriously and know not to play with electrical devices. They're a few years away from that and I'll probably have time to teach them better, when we're not rushing to meet there mother, but you just never know what kids see and what they think they've learned. As we were leaving I stopped and asked them why I shouldn't have done what I did and then explained the logic of why I did it. So, which was the stronger impression, do you suppose? Watching me do it (I don't think they were really paying that much attention) or me telling them how it works?


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