With warm, sunny weather finally arriving here in Oregon, I decided to check off a few task items on my Honey-Do list (that list of things my wife has been nagging me to do with the house for months).

After knocking out some of the low-hanging fruit tasks, like buying moss killer for the lawn and taking my old grill to the dump, I got out the shovel and started digging out a path along the side of our house.

As soon as I started digging, my kids immediately materialized out of nowhere and asked if they could help. "Please dad, can we help dig the path?" In fact, 9 times out of 10 my kids want to help me with whatever project I'm working on - I've even had them ask if they can help me scoop dog poop out of the back yard! They just love to do things with their dad, and I'm sure your kids are the same way.

Projects are natural kid-magnets, and I think that instead of shooing our kids away, we should take advantage of the opportunity to connect, and turn the project into a memory builder!

I don't think my kids will ever reminisce about the paint job I did on the kitchen, or reflect fondly on the crafty job I did on our crown molding. But I guarantee they'll remember the path project that "we" did "together".

Let's face it, we men have a natural tendency to focus intently on our home projects, and want them to turn out perfectly. Letting our young children help out is not always our first reaction. Speaking for myself anyway, my first reaction to their offer to help is usually "Sorry, but this is a one-man show here". But I'm trying to make choices to change that, and hopefully as I continue to make those choices it'll become more and more of a natural reaction to invite them to help.

And in reality, their attention spans are so short and their muscles so small that they usually move on to other activities after a few minutes of "helping dad".

But even if they stay interested for longer, there are ways to involve them and still achieve the perfect project. Take my daughter this afternoon. She really wanted to help with the path, but I knew she wouldn't be able to dig through the thick clay. So I suggested that she wait until I finished digging and help me lay down the gravel.

I gave her a garden spade and a sand bucket, and turned her loose on my truck filled with 1/4-minus gravel. Thirty minutes later, and with the help of her friend who she recruited for the project, she had emptied about a wheel barrow full of gravel into the path which let me focus on straightening out the side lining.

Her face was glowing with a big smile the whole time, and we talked about how big her muscles were going to be the next day, and how good of a helper she and her friend were. She really had fun helping, and I realized that my Honey-Do task item had been transformed into a father-daughter connection, and a priceless memory builder!