Knocking Down the Old BBQ

We've got family friends over from Adelaide for Easter. John is a former builder and a great dad... he's originally from the US, met Eileen and moved over to Aus'. Eileen is my wife Lisa's cousin and we've got kids about the same age. We have been able to see each others' kids (all teenagers now) grow up over the years.

I am still climbing the steep J curve of handy man knowledge... at 43, I know two things: how to paint the outside of a house and my specialty - filling a skip! So we produced some rubble yesterday by knocking down an old BBQ in the corner of our back yard... this fulfilled one of our Easter catch up traditions... having a practical project around the house. One Easter I served my 'skip filling' apprenticeship at John and Eileen's house as we tidied up some branches on an overhanging tree. I loved it. My job was to jump around inside the skip and compress the branches into the smallest space.

So yesterday morning John and I picked out the demolition of the BBQ as this year's project. A couple of calls to some (more) practical mates than I and the necessary tools were procured... a bolster, a mallet and a bloody big mallet. We started. John, on the ladder, removed bricks from the top and checked that the shed that the BBQ was attached to, wouldn't actually fall down. The process started... John takes a few bricks off... I march them into the space we had made inside the shed.

Out comes Jack, my 13 year old son.

"Can I help?" asks Jack. "Actually buddy, we need some nails knocked in on that firewood, I've got around the corner... could you grab a hammer and have a go at that for a while?" He did it! half an hour later... John has got to a point where he doesn't need to be on the ladder and he calls out to Jack "Do you want have a go at this pal?" Jack is right there on the spot... up for it, wanting to help. John shows him how to let the bolster and the mallet do the work... how to tackle the brick from the side and in a few moments, it's my son handing over the bricks for me, his labourer to ferry onto the pile we're making in the shed.

John goes and gets his son Sean who has a go himself. The team swap between the sweeping of the rubble... the spading up of the rubbish and the knocking down and piling of the bricks.

It was 3-4 hour project... two dads and their teenage sons, working together. They did a great job. John and I actually sat back at the end and let them finish.

This was a small demolition project but it was also a magical mentoring construction project. You could almost feel the appreciation these young blokes had. I know my son loves being in the company of adults and here he was making a genuine adult contribution to the project... Jack getting praise from John, Sean from me. There's got to be something in all of this. Here were two young fellas launching in, complete with designer boxers sticking out the top of their jeans... just throwing themselves into some physical labour. As a dad, it is great being around John... I love the way he operates, his generous spirit. As a dad I love our Easter catch up tradition.

We knocked down a BBQ yesterday but so much more was going on.

Half the battle is being alongside your kids and having your kids alongside some good mentors.

Thanks for reading.

Bill Jennings from Time & Space.