We grown-ups like to throw around the term “kids these days” an awful lot. And not in a complimentary way. Maybe it’s just a generational rite of passage — I have a feeling the baby boomers were saying the same thing about us kids of “the 1900s” (as my own two like to say), who are now approaching-middle-age parents ourselves.
And yes, times have changed as times tend to do. I think a lot of folks would tend to agree that generally speaking, “kids these days” spend a lot of time on screens and probably not enough time outdoors.
Many of them are over-scheduled with hyper-organized, increasingly demanding youth sports and extracurricular activities. They have virtually no significant windows of time left for the really important things like helping with household responsibilities, enjoying distraction-free quality time with family, and learning how to figure out on their own what to do with the glorious, luxurious gift of free time that they tend to mistake for miserable boredom.
As someone who can admit that my own kids occasionally gripe about their chores, gravitate toward iPads, and rarely have an afternoon without an afterschool practice or activity, I find myself noticing the kids who seem to be doing things a little differently.
Kids raking leaves in their front yard. Kids reading books or simply just sitting in waiting rooms, without a parent’s phone in hand. Kids who know to hold the door for the person behind them. Kids who have come up with something productive and constructive to do in their free time. Kids like Wyatt Dixon.
I came across Wyatt by chance after I made a crowd-sourcing post to Facebook back in January in an attempt to find what is apparently a rare commodity in Fayetteville: a load of good-quality, reasonably-priced firewood from someone willing to deliver, unload and stack.
A friend connected me with Wyatt’s grandmother, Cindy McCormic, who, as I would come to find out, is the official social media PR person for Wyatt’s firewood business, “WG Firewood Company.” Cindy told me that Wyatt already had a week’s worth of other orders to fulfill, but would be glad to have a truckload to our house as soon as he was able.
Wyatt and his dad, Kyle Dixon, were backing down our driveway in their pickup truck, just as promised, within a week. It was after dark and particularly cold, and it was a school night.
When I instructed my kids to find some gloves and help unload and stack our firewood, I imagine they must have assumed that anyone old enough to have their own firewood company would have to be, well, old.
When my 5th-grade daughter first saw Wyatt, already thoughtfully surveying our backyard for the ideal spot to stack our load, she whispered to me, “Mom! I know him! He goes to my school and he’s only in 6th grade!”
Yes, Wyatt Dixon may only be in 6th grade, but he’s a young man who takes his new business seriously. When I reached out to his mother, Mari-Newton Dixon, to learn more about the evolution of WG Firewood Co., she emphasized that her avid outdoorsman middle-schooler really is the brains behind the entire operation — his creative solution to earn and save enough money to buy himself a jon boat.
“He had the idea back in November and, of course, we thought it was great,” Mari-Newton said, giving Wyatt credit for everything from the business logo to his slogan, “Bringing the Heat to Your Home.”
“He is involved in the whole process,” she said. “He got his own chainsaw for his birthday and then a log splitter for Christmas. He’s probably the only 12-year-old in America that asked Santa for a log splitter. Wyatt helps cut, split, load and deliver the wood.
“He would even drive the truck if he was old enough!” Mari-Newton joked.
In addition to his solid business plan, Wyatt has a knack for great customer service and absolutely no aversion to hard work as witnessed by me as Wyatt delivered, unloaded and stacked an impressively huge load of his seasoned oak with more care and attention than the grown men who have done this for us in the past.
He patiently answered my slew of curious questions about his firewood operation with polite, “Yes, ma’ams” and “No, ma’ams” as he made trek after trek from the truck across our big backyard with heavy armloads of wood.
His dad helped unload alongside Wyatt and explained how they work together to source hardwood from their rural property, and that as Wyatt’s business has begun to gain traction, his son has stayed motivated to keep up with his growing number of orders, putting in the time it takes to run his business around his school schedule and extracurricular obligations.
When Wyatt had finally unloaded the last logs from the back of his dad’s truck and stacked them all exactly where and how I’d asked him to — long after my kids had succumbed to the cold and retreated to the warm house — he knocked on the back door to thank me and make sure everything was done to my satisfaction.
“Above and beyond,” I told him.
And like any shrewd businessman would do, Wyatt handed me one of his professionally printed business cards.
And then, he asked, “Do you have a broom that I could please borrow so I can sweep up your driveway before we go?”
After Wyatt and his dad left our house, I thought to myself, “I hope my kids learned something from watching Wyatt tonight.” I know I sure did.
WG Firewood Co. has made about 15 deliveries since Christmas, and Wyatt has plans in place to continue gathering wood throughout the year to get ahead for next season.
I have a feeling he might have himself a jon boat before long, and it’ll be the best kind of jon boat. The kind that’s been earned, not given, and represents its young owner’s ingenuity, hard work and determination.
After all, you can’t exactly go fishing with an iPad, and it’s awfully hard to get bored when you’re a 12-year-old with a creative mind, an admirable work ethic, a blossoming business and your very own boat.
Thank you, Wyatt, for reminding us through your example that “kids these days” need what kids have always needed: the support and encouragement from grown-ups to chase their dreams, and the values and hard work it usually takes to achieve them.
Read CityView Magazine’s “The Women’s Issue” March 2025 e-edition here.
What a great story! Way to go Wyatt – keep up the good work!
Claire
What a great article. Thank you.
What an inspiration Wyatt is for the younger generation and let’s hope this will encourage others to follow in his footsteps. I admire his parents for giving him the support but not pushing him at the same time. Very uplifting article Claire.