What to teach kids?

[Deleted User]

Without a doubt how to budget and manage their money.My late Mum taught me so much about how to make the pennies streeeetch(and it was pennies in those days)and it has lasted me throughout my life.
How to stretch food to accomodate more meals, and the importance of arranging you money so that the important things are covered before the 'fun' things
Rent/mortgage. Always most important to keep a roof over your head
heat/light both things are essential
food/ extremely vital for healthy living, no matter how frugal you are
anything else is down to what you deem as important to your particular lifestyle
t.v/phones/clothes/internet ect
As a little girl growing up during the austerity period after W.W.2. the last lot of things were not a problem as we had no t.v. or telephone (call box was at the bottom of the road,but few people had a phone anyway to ring up)
Clothes were a bit limited as it was a make-do-and-mend era and adults clothes were often taken apart and remade for smaller children.Wool was unravelled and re-knitted as something else as well.Sheets were resewn sides-to-middle. A lot of frugality doesn't apply nowadays as cloth is far more in abundance than it was after the war and clothes these days can be bought very cheaply .But if you really thought about what you could do without if pushed then you would be suprised at how some of your bills may come down.

mollythewestie

I agree with the Rainbows/Brownies suggestion. I was just thinking that, apart from my parents and grandparents, I probably learnt most of my household skills from my old Brown Owl! She was very old (in her 80's in the 1980's, so had lived through 2 world wars, so had lots of skills to pass on to her "girls" )
She taught us:
Sewing - we learnt 6 or 7 basic stitches, how to repair clothes, sewing on buttons, making puppets/toys etc
Cooking - mainly cakes and how to ice them.
Basic outdoor skills - reading a compass, finding your way if your lost, how to keep warm, reading star constellations, road safety.
Gardening - Growing your own fruit and veg and most importantly what is and isn't edible ie. berries and mushrooms!

The most exciting thing I remember was going to a large country estate where the lady of the house did a talk about etiquette. We all had to sit around a large dining table that was fully laid with every spoon, fork and dish imaginable, and she told us what each piece of cutlery was for. It was very intimidating for a group of 15 inner city 8 year olds, but I still remember much of what she taught us that day.

babyshoes

The most important thing you can teach kids is how to learn! If they develop a lifelong interest in acquiring new knowledge and a curiosity about the world, they can teach themselves to do almost anything they might want to do later on.

Try to see the world through the eyes of a child as you go about your daily life, and explain things as you go along, encourage them to ask 'why and how' questions, admit to not knowing if you don't know and then research the answer together.

The important thing is not to let learning become a chore, as school often is. If you find the world around you fascinating, and explain what and why you are interested, they will be too, and start to ask their own questions and use their brains, think for themselves and form their own informed opinions!

So many of the teenagers I work with simply accept what they are told and spout media rubbish when asked for an opinion... They don't know how to think!

Heffi1

I think the one thing or maybe two that have turned my two into nice adults is
1. Good table manners
2. Respect for other people and their property

I know not very OS but still part of life's lessons to be learned and they will stand them in good stead throughout their lives.

A boyfriend of one of my relations, had never sat at a table to eat a meal, had never been into a restaurant and was understandably nervous and out of place when taken with the parents for a meal. The biggest hurdle was asking him not to talk with food in his mouth......but I think there is another thread here so will stop for now.

Teach your children to cook and clean, budget well and tackle DIY tasks and then they do not have to rely on anyone else to do it for them, I taught my son to cook, because lets face it we no longer live in the era of the little woman at home taking care of those things.

Chipps

I would agree with the practical skills that others have suggested such as cooking, sewing, budgeting etc, and certainly with Heffi1 about the manners. But with all of these, surely the important thing is that they are something you teach by modelling them yourself.
So, whether its cooking, cleaning, budgeting, sewing or courtesy to others, while you are getting on & doing it, expect them to join in with you and it will be something they pick up naturally.
And you'll have a lot of fun doing things together, too!

Oh, and I would also agree with the Rainbows/Brownies/Girls Brigade as well - they learn a lot & have fun in those groups.

charliee_3

Heffi1 wrote: »

I think the one thing or maybe two that have turned my two into nice adults is
1. Good table manners
2. Respect for other people and their property

oh god yes, good manners and respect are 2 of THE most important things you can teach your children, if all children learnt this then the world would be a much nicer place

x-cupcake-x

Sorry if this has been said before, when I was younger I used to get pocket money but it had to be earned by doing jobs. I had a "job book" which everything was wrote in and each job had it's own value depending on how much hard work it was: making a cuppa was 5 p, washing the car was 50p and cutting the grass (when I was a bit older) was £1 (had a big garden) everything was added up at the end of the week and I was given my "wages" I think there was an upper limit to how much I could get.

It taught me that I couldn't just expect money when I wanted something and that I would have to work for it.

Heffi1

x-cupcake-x wrote: »

Sorry if this has been said before, when I was younger I used to get pocket money but it had to be earned by doing jobs. I had a "job book" which everything was wrote in and each job had it's own value depending on how much hard work it was: making a cuppa was 5 p, washing the car was 50p and cutting the grass (when I was a bit older) was £1 (had a big garden) everything was added up at the end of the week and I was given my "wages" I think there was an upper limit to how much I could get.

It taught me that I couldn't just expect money when I wanted something and that I would have to work for it.

That is a really good way of kids being ablje to work out the value of money, I wish I had thought of that along the way, a bit late now my 'baby' turned 21 yesterday :eek: I feel so old now :-)

Primrose

Basic cooking, sewing, how to grow a few vegetables, and a big one: "How to manage money".
Another one which seems to have flown out of the window these days - remembering always to say "Thank You", in the form of a written letter or phone call. It doesn't take long but always leaves a pleasant feeling on the part of the giver.

buxtonrabbitgreen

Sewing definitely. My dd can make costumes, repair and alter clothes, thread and set up the swing machine. she is 16. My ds can also sew on a button if he has to.
They can both cook, bake, and know how to make a roux sauce.
Knitting if they are interested too.
when I ran a Beaver group I got them all sewing and a suprising amount of the boys took great satisfaction from it. And some of them were usually quite rowdy.