My boys have talked about building a treehouse for years.  My older son, in particular, has been captivated by the idea of building his own outdoor living space.  And after much planning [mostly on the part of my husband], it finally happened over Memorial Day weekend.  There is now a beautiful treehouse deck in our yard.

My husband designed the base and railings, making sure that everything met his strict standards for safety.  And every step of the way, our young boys were involved.  They helped to choose the location.  They assisted in determining the size and shape.  And as the work progressed, they helped with the buying of materials, the measuring, and the building.

Granted, working with two children is very different from working with another adult.  The project likely took my husband longer than it would have on his own, and certainly longer than if he would have had another skilled adult working with him.  But, our boys got to be part of another major construction project (they helped my husband build our back deck two summers ago).  And that fact alone, makes the effort worthwhile.

By working on projects like such as this one, our boys are developing their own construction skills.  They are learning how to plan and execute big projects.  They learn the importance of measuring before cutting.  They get more experience with tools in big-project contexts (they each have a workbench fully stocked with tools of their own, but it’s a different feeling to build something we’ll all be using than to build something small on a workbench).  They’re learning to listen carefully, and to follow instructions.  They learn to work together.  They learn about the rules of a job site (for example: no rough-housing; always clean up after yourself; safety first).  And on and on.

These are skills and lessons that they will carry into other projects and other contexts.  And, importantly, our boys are building their own skill sets so they’ll one day be ready to tackle these types of big projects on their own.

Now that the base structure of the treehouse is complete, our boys are free to build any structure they want upon the deck (that is, they can build an actual “house,” or whatever else they decide).  This is where they can apply the lessons they learned while working with dad.  Or, if they choose, they can simply leave the treehouse deck in its current state.

I love the open, elevated deck just as it is.  It’s a fantastic place to sit and read or watch or dream.  But no matter what they decide, they’ll have the experience of helping to build something beautiful, as well as all of the lessons they learned along the way.