Childrearing

Winston Churchill, a cavalry officer and champion polo player in his smaller youth, said in My Early Life,

“Don't give your son money. As far as you can afford it, give him horses. No one ever came to grief, except honourable grief, through riding horses. No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle. Young men have often been ruined through owning horses, or through backing horses, but never through riding them; unless of course they break their necks, which, taken at a gallop, is a very good death to die.”

My middle-class American version is "Don't give your son money. As far as you can afford it, give him a good lawnmower." My Honda GVC-160 power lawnmower and my wife's new MVWP575GW Maytag Commercial Washer make work fun. My son is at Purdue now, and my maiden daughters have other chores to attend to, but now that I think of it, maybe we should splurge on a luxury vacuum cleaner. Writing down advice is a good way to advise oneself!