Spring has Sprung and so have the Landscaping Trucks

I love spring in our area. The grass starts getting green, flowers start popping up out of the ground and people start smiling more with the end of snow and winter. When I was growing up in this area all that was true, but there is one thing that  has changed. A lot of people now have a lawn or landscaping service that mows their lawn, mulches their flower beds and fertilizes their lawns.

When I was a kid, we had a crappy lawn mower that didn’t push itself. Some of the mowers these days practically mow the lawn by themselves with all their technology. We didn’t have anything that would edge the lawn and fertilizing at my house was almost non-existent. We didn’t have a lawn service. I take that back, we did, and it was my brother and I.

In all fairness, my dad did mow the lawn often too. We lived in the Highlands on a half-acre, so mowing our lawn was time consuming. Now I live in town with what I call a “postage stamp” backyard and teen sons, yet we now have a lawn service.

I wonder how we evolved to become this. Back in the day, if you didn’t have kids that could mow your lawn, there were always teens in the neighborhood that wanted to make money. It was a great way for teens to earn a few bucks in the summer.

As I write this I have to take responsibility too. My husband and I are both guilty of hiring a lawn service, but it didn’t start out that way when we moved here. My husband loves to mow the lawn, it’s his time to put on some headphones and chill out. After one season of mulching I finally convinced him to let a service do the mulching for us and eventually it evolved into the mowing and fertilizing too.

Is it just easier to have someone come and mow, but not go through the process of teaching or explaining the job to the kids? Is it because we expect a certain standard that takes time to develop? Is it because we over schedule our kids during the summer?

Whatever the reason is I know that we have done our children a disservice in this area. I will try to remember this as my son is looking for a job for this summer.