If you’re really, really lucky, you have a friend that makes you a better person. Not just improves your life – that should be all friendships – but pushes you to grow and improve as a person. I must have wished on the right shooting star as a kid, because I have a couple of these friends – over the past few months they’ve really shifted my views on priorities, parenting, and community overall. Who you hang out with really influences your values, behavior, and thinking…which is how our family ended up putting in a commercial-strength tetherball in our backyard.
One of my wishing-star friends sent me a reel about tetherball being used in pediatric therapy; it’s a great tool to improve hand-eye coordination, balance, reaction times, and core muscles. Unfortunately, they’ve been removed from most playgrounds and schools in our risk-adverse and litigious society. I immediately wanted one and brought it up to my husband that night. Being the supportive team-mate he is, the research began.
It’s important to note here that our family is a bit weird – we’re an engineer and scientist couple with three very excited about life children. We have a tendency to over-do things and this project was no exception. I’m pretty sure our unofficial family motto is “go big AT home” instead of “go big or go home”. We’ll stay home, thanks, we’re just going to make home a place we want to be. That being said, a normal amazon-kit tetherball wasn’t going to do. The poles were aluminum, with multiple juncture points that would provide weaknesses over time. We wanted something stronger.
After asking around, one of my husband’s coworkers said he had some steel piping we could use. Perfect! We brought it home, cut it to size (standard in-ground height is 10 feet) with an angle grinder, added an eye bolt, and put in reinforcements to combat torque in the base. Then we dug a 3 foot hole using a borrowed auger (thank you, neighbor!!!), put on a post level, and mixed two bags of quickcrete. Once the concrete was set and the children were asleep, we added on the rope & ball. I promptly lost three games in a row, but I maintain that my husband has an unfair height advantage. Hopefully my height advantage helps me win games against our six year-old later this week.
Disclaimer/Reality Check: This article uses the royal “we”. I did not cut, grind, or drill – that was all my husband. I did, however, hold the pole level while he laboriously mixed and poured concrete – clearly I carried this project. Joking aside – this was all him, thanks love! We don’t get to do every project I dream up, and I’m very grateful for the ones we do manage to make happen. I don’t ever want this column to make another mama think she’s not doing enough. If you’re reading this, I want you to know that you are, you’re doing great, keep it up. Sing it with me: no-one is doing it allllll!
