Passing on OS to the next generation

valk_scot

Mine are 9 & 14. I talk about it to them. Not sitting down and giving them a lecture but just on a day to day basis. They both get a basic allowance but if they want more, they have to help work out where it's coming from. I have a household budget so if I hand over £10 from that for a day out, what else can I cut back on? Will they take packed lunches for the next two weeks instead? Forego the cinema trip? All of us eat leftovers for a couple of days? I make them aware of the fact that mum's purse isn't a bottomless pit of money.

As for cooking and cleaning, they have to do their share. Always have. I'm far to lazy to do all the housework for four people so since they were small they've always been expected to help out, even if it was just picking up toys to put in a box. DS can cook complete meals, DD can make snacks, toast, tea etc and helps out with small amounts of cooking. She's too scatty to be left alone in the kitchen yet though. They also come to help do the supermarket shopping so are well aware of how to work out price per unit, look for the offers and how to change a menu plan at the drop of a hat when faced with the Whoopsie shelf. And, most importantly, they understand they can't just fill up the trolley with whatever they fancy because there won't be enough money to pay for it at the checkout, and that the actual food and household supplies come first.

Basically though, it's an ethos. Waste not, want not, and you can't have everything all of the time either. This applies to everything from not eating a weeks supply of snack food in one day to thinking ahead to what they'll need money for, and allocating what they've got accordingly. Plus being taught the skills necessary to save money...cooking, mending, cleaning, reducing consumption and wastage, budgeting and other financial savvy. There's np point in having one without the other...you've got to have the ethos to put your skills to effective use, and you can't fulfill your ethos without having the relevant skill set. So you need to teach both.

gemini12

My daughter went through the clothes stage just as everyone wanted labels so I gave her her child benefit each week to spend on what she wanted. I bought school uniform and school shoes or she wouldnt have had any but after that she was on her own. I cant remember how much it was and it certainly helped especially when she wanted a £40.00 jumper:eek:. Very expensive at the time so I lent her the money and she paid me back each with with all her money. It happened to be at the start of the summer hols so she had no money for the entire holiday. She still remembers and talks about it but a valuable lesson learned. I did tell her aftrewards that I would have let her pay me less each week but she set the amount so I let her get on with it. Cruel? Possibly but it worked and learned to shop in the shops she could afford.:rotfl::rotfl:

LittleLauz

My family is totally the other way around, im 22 and like to thing I'm very good with money and budgeting and do all my cooking from scratch and batch cook things.
Now my mother on the other hand is awful with money, buys lots of convenience foods etc and by the end of the month is always moaning that she has no money!!
so I try and teach her, but she's not really interested and thinks I'm a bit sad for being so careful with my money, but I'm the one who's debt free and got savings so doesn't bother me :-)
To me, becoming OS has just been common sense, not something that I had to be taught. I was very frivolous with cash when I was younger, always out in the pub or clothes shopping, I've just changed my ways as I've grown older.

LolaLemon

see im a bit different as well... my mum sometimes complains about how me and my younger sister (20 in a weeks time) and brother (17), cant cook a meal to save ourselves, yet she never once taught us. sanything wev learned has been through home ec at school (i make most of my food from scratch, yet my mum buys in a lot of convienence foods)
if i was to have learned through absorption, all i would know is how to use a chip pan (never used one before, ever!), make macaroni cheese in the oven (ive asked for the recipe so i can adapt it for my son and i, but shes yet to pass that one on), gammon n pineapples and chops....
from learning myself i can make a mean spag bol, making my own sauce, recently learned how to make white sauce (using goats milk) so can now make lasagna for left over spag bol, a brilliant chicken pie which uses potatoes instead of pastry...
im a good baker, dont think ive ever seen my mum bake anything, other than the macaroni

Sweet_Pea_2

As mentioned by previous posters, I didn't really realize until I left home home much I had learnt by "absorption" from my own mum and also from MIL with regards to cooking.

It's only when I found this board and began to think about Old Style I realized that it is exactly the way that both OH and myself were bought up, so really nothing new to us at all.

So perhaps as Pink says, our children will grow up and do their own thing, but they will have the OS experience from their childhood to put into practice for themselves if they want or need to. Also, things they have no interest in now, such as cookig/sewing etc will become of interest as they get older, I was always interested in sewing, but not so much in cooking, but I am now, likewise gardening.

I just try to encourage my two, and to buy things that may be of practical use in the future as well as the usual wants of clothes/phones etc for birthdays and Christmas.

jcr16

I don't ever remember my mum showing me how to cook. but i've always been interested. If my mum would go out and dad was say in the garden i'd get a cook book and make something. When i was about 9 or 10 i had a thing for making queche. they were scrummy. I always make hundreds and froze them.
My mum always cooked from scratch. Although my parents were never poor or wealthy, they never wasted a penny. Mum said for years she only ever got veg from the allotment, untill my grandad passed away. My dad is a gardener so they always grew something. or knew or someone who did grew there own who would sell surplus.

My children are 7,5 and 2. so although i woulnd't expect them to be able to cook a meal. they all get involved when they want. My youngest loves mixing cakes, my 5 yf old likes rolling out pastry and making pizzas with me. and my 7 yr old loves making tuna pasta with me. Whenever they ask to help i always encourage it. Even if something simple like jelly or sandwich making.

Last yr we grew alot, and they understand about growing our own. both sets of grandparents grow alot, and one set has chicken's. They really enjoying cooking with home grown produce.

My dd has watched me when i do sewing either making quilts, cushions or skirts for her. She knows how to use a sewing machine with me guiding her. She really loves to get involved.

The way i see it, i plan to pass on all i know to my 3 children over the years and involve them as much as i can.

i'm 29 and i can't really remember being taugh much at school in way of cooking.not meals, made bread roll's tho.My children do alot of baking at school already. even in nursery they make bread rolls and porriage and fruit salads etc.

My children love getting involved and hopefully i'm teaching them well enough for them to continue to enjoy it and want to do it.