[plumseverywhere]

A random comment from my 2 eldest daughters a couple of weeks ago made me feel a warm, fuzzy glow and I just wanted to share it and also talk to other mums and dad's who've brought up children on a smallholding or farm as sometimes I do worry a bit (mums job to worry though I guess!!)

My 9 yr old and 8 yr old were plodding up to the nursery paddock to help me transfer the (then) tiny lambs back to their shed for the night. And they were discussing what they might be when they grew up. Both agreed that they wanted to be smallholders so that they "could let our own children enjoy the same brilliant life that we've had too". 
Now up till this point I've thought that they enjoyed the good bits (ie bottle feeding lambs, milking goats, collecting eggs, plums etc) but I've always had a niggling worry that they work harder than their peers as they are very involved in cleaning out, caring for sick animals, plum harvest and their holidays away are often brief and dictated by harvest time and so on.
That comment made it feel oh so worth while and I hugged them both - very proud of all my girls I am 

Did anyone else grow up with a lifestyle like this or have any other anecdotes to share about childhood with livestock etc? I'd be interested to hear how the girls attitudes might change as they reach their teens' (eek!) 

[Sandy]

I would have loved to have brought my children up with farm/small holder life style, we only had dogs and I grew stuff but one of my daughters wants and has that style of life...my ex was a farmers son and absolutly hated it, all he did was work for his dad and his uncle when others were out having fun in the school holidays, he hated the house being full of straw, lambs and bits of feed, however, his brother (twin) loves the life and has a tractor and dabbles a bit but is a builder but I am sure its the type of person...I love rough and outdoors!!

[HappyHippy]

I grew up with that idylic country life  The kind where you 'kep coos' with bits of twig, play in the woods til dark with no shoes on and throw your siblings into the midden (dung heap)  It was great  When I was 12, my dad gave up farming (though we stayed on the farm as he 'diversified' into elderly care - granny farming as he affectionately called it  ) so I grew up as a 'typical' teenager - going out drinking and partying  but to be honest, I'd have done that even if they were still farming, only it would have been under the guise of 'young farmers events' 
I think (hope) by giving our kids the lives we do (mine get the same treatment yours do Lisa  ) that we are teaching them valuable life lessons. Respect for themselves, others, animals and the world around them. Healthy habbits for later life - good outdoors lifestyle, healthy food, frugal living and the realisation that if they want something they have to work for it and not rely on someone else to do it for them. It's hard sometimes and there are times they definately don't have the same perks as their peers - but by teaching them all this now my hope is it will become ingrained and second nature to think about how their actions affect the outcome, not just in farming but in all of their life. My hope is that they will appreciate what they've got and find happiness in that, rather than striving for 'perfection' in the form of lots of money and material possesions.
Oh, and Rebecca wants to be a pig breeder  especially since she's won her first show prize and learnt all about testicles 
I had to tell her  she was adamant that she was phoning the vet "cos there's something REALLY wrong with Red's bum Mum"  Personally, I'm guiding her down the 'vet' route, slightly more cash to be found there than smallholding 
Karen 

[plumseverywhere]

  loved the picture of Rebecca showing that pig - brilliant bless her!!
I suppose because I grew up a townie in london and then moved to the home counties but still lived an urban lifestyle, I am keen that my girls have this type of life. you've hit the nail on the head Karen, about enjoying wealth as something that nature gives us rather than in the monetary form 

[thestephens]

im a townie, who had country born parents but i ended up marrying a farmer and wouldnt swap it for the world but at times found it hard when the kids were babies and never saw OH for days at harvesttime! As the girls have got bigger now 7 and 9 they get more into farming life, asking dad to wait till the weekend to do "jobs" with the sheep, seeing our piglets being born was another great moment and now they are asking for hens!
i have many farmers daughters as friends and quite a few say they couldnt wait to get away from farming, hopefully ours wont be like that and would be more than happy from them to get invovlved in young farmers activities (well the organised ones ) better than hanging about the city centre!!

[ambriel]

Yes, saw the photo. Excellent!

I grew up in a small farming village although my family weren't involved in farming themselves. Years of idyllic wandering the fields and woods, poaching pheasants and fishing in the estate ponds.

Our kids enjoy mucking in with keeping our animals, too.

[ellisr]

I grew up on a smallholding but moved to the burbs with mum and dad when I was 12 I stayed in a village until I got married then had to move into the city I hated it. So when the chance of a job came up for my OH we moved down south and got a smallholding. Unfortunately all of our kids are grown up but we love it when the grandkids come down and they love to collect eggs and see to the little lambs

[plumseverywhere]

I've also noticed that our 4 seem less 'poorly' than other children at school/friends kids. although we live in a country village, 99% of the children don't have the same lifestyle as us (they tend to be glued to the wii!) our girls only have about 1 day off school a year (and this year it was Eloise's cockerel had died in her case and she was distraught !)  The children from the traveller camp also seem healthier, they lead a similar 'outdoor' existance, playing with their horses and up tree's but many of my daughter's other friends have a lot of time off (in comparison) with coughs and colds.
EllisR - you've just given me something else to look forward to when these 4 little toads girls have grown up - doing it all again with grandchildren, lovely images 
 

[ballingall]

I'm impressed your children have recognised how much they appreciate their lifestyle and the animals. Good on them.

I grew up with it too, and I did enjoy it. I find I react far better to animal illness's and potential death (or actual deaths) than Alex does. It's not that it doesn't upset me- I just seem to deal with it better as I've dealt with it for so many years.

My sister said she only realised how ideal our upbringing was once she had children herself. My parents had their own business, so one or other of them was always there- and because of the nature of the business (a nursery- produced 2 tonne of tomatoes a week, plus lots of other stuff) we could just be at work with them, and it was no problem. Plus of course the animals etc at home.

My brother didn't enjoy it, so I do think part of it is the type of person you are. My brother would have lived to live in a housing estate in the town, and be like everyone else- he didn't like our family being different.

Beth

[knightquest]

I was born in Birmingham and have lived within its boundaries for the last 45 years. That is except for holidays in Wales and all my school holidays as a child (3 to 13) when I went out to stay in Evesham on a fruit farm in a tied cottage. I had no one else to play with as such but honestly didn't need them I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

When, at the age of 18 at college, our group of about 18 to 20 people were asked which of us would like to live in the country, I expected everyone to say yes. To my surprise, I was the only one and I was shocked. It turned out that all the others had no experience of 'country living' and didn't fancy it at all  

I believe absolutely that the exposure to farm living made me a better person who is more able to cope with life and I would be sooo much different had I stayed glued to the telly.

At the time I had very few illnesses and I am the same now. It must have had an effect. Either that or it was all the times I fell out of the plum trees and in to the stingers underneath  

Ian

[Roxy]

My Mums family were farmers - from beng around the age of 3, I spent every weekend, and every holiday at the farm - "helping" my Uncles and Auntie on the farm.  I think my love of horses stems from being put up on the heavy horses as they came back from the fields at hay making time.  Even in my teens I spent all my time at the farm - my uncle had a large herd of beef cattle, and a big free range poultry flock - again, that influenced me to keep hens myself I think.

I always wanted to live at the farm - keep the family tradition going.  For a while  I believed this would happen, but in a few days the farm will be sold.