Posted on 10/05/2010 2:50:28 AM PDT by Daisyjane69
Are we raising a generation of nincompoops? And do we have only ourselves to blame? Or are some of these things simply the result of kids growing up with push-button technology in an era when mechanical devices are gradually being replaced by electronics?
Susan Maushart, a mother of three, says her teenage daughter "literally does not know how to use a can opener. Most cans come with pull-tops these days. I see her reaching for a can that requires a can opener, and her shoulders slump and she goes for something else."
Teenagers are so accustomed to either throwing their clothes on the floor or hanging them on hooks that Maushart says her "kids actually struggle with the mechanics of a clothes hanger."
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Just as long as we’re not raising dumbies......
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/553341/posts?
;^)
O2
(too bad the wayback machine can’t resurrect some of those old pics and deleted comments)
Hey, does anybody know where I can get some cat handcuffs? I've gotta get a pair of cat handcuffs. Either two little ones like this, to go around the little paws.. or a big one that hooks onto my arm and then hooks onto the cat. I found out my cat was embezzling from me, so I've gotta get a little pair.. of cat handcuffs, so.. Well, I found out that when I'm away, he goes to the mailbox, picks up the checks, take them down to the bank and cashes them. The way I caught him, I went out to his little house, where he sleeps at night, and there was like $3,000 worth of cat toys out there. And you can't return them, because they have spit all over them...
[Steve Martin]
The “greatest” generation had no clue how to raise kids.
“Telling time on an analog clock is not elementary to me. I have to stop and think, I can’t just glance, I love digital.”
You need practice. Get an analog watch and use it regularly. My watch has both analog and digital displays and, since I don’t generally need to know the time down to the second or even the exact minute, much prefer it for telling the time at a quick glance. For example, I glance at my watch now and can see that it is close to 10 am without having to look at it closely.
Mine is not as shiny as that, but it still works great!
I guess I've lived a very sheltered life, as I've never even "seen" one of those. OTOH, I "can" (no pun intended) use the one on the Swiss Army knife.
Actually, it occurred to me that we are raising a generation of idle rich kids. It may be part of the problem with having immigrants take jobs that teenagers used to do.
I started working at the age of 16 as did everyone else.
And that is why we got Obama.
There is that, alright.
LOL.
Very true. I've been surprised many times at what young parents don't know. We've lived in prosperity and peace for many years, and it has been a long time since some families have found it necessary to do basic chores for themselves or to do them without technology. Our community has been full of homes with high-end remodeled kitchens with granite counter tops in which nobody cooks anything from scratch. I meet mothers who can't sew on buttons or scout patches. My son came home from school the other day to tell me that he was the only student in his Latin class who knew what home canning was for and roughly how it was done. (They were discussing "hermetic"). Our sons are the only ones that I know locally who are expected to help mow the lawn.
I remember talking to my mother about this once, and she related that things had taken a similar turn in pre-war central Europe. When she was a child, basic skills had become somewhat atrophied. When the war and rationing hit, people quickly became resourceful. Old people taught the young, who at that point willingly learned. Everyone suddenly became more clever, innovative and willing to do manual work. Food was cooked from scratch using a variety of substitutes for unavailable ingredients; ersatz coffee was made from beans; wine, honey and cough syrup were made from dandelions; people gardened and raised chickens and rabbits; and mechanical goods were repaired however was possible. Barter and sharing held communities together. People adapt when they must.
Unfortunately, sooner or later, the old farts are right, and the lights start going out.
Probably also really scary-looking at the beach.
I need one of those, because in my new cubbycle, the old hangers don't fit over the thicker walls.
BTW--Don't forget your eyeglass hinges. Everything works better with a little oil on it.
In part, that's because Stupidity comes in such a variety of flavors that it puts Baskin-Robbins to shame.
EBH, you hit it on the head with that post of yours.
Next thing you know, some cat will dial 911 because when she opened the can, her catfood was cold.
If your kids can’t do some everyday type stuff and have no idea how to survive on a daily basis without technology you better take a really good look at yourself and realize you are lacking as a parent, teacher, instructor to the joys and realities of life. You raised the nincompoop, a lot of us DID NOT! Duh...
My dad (who was one of that generation) was a completely self-reliant man when it came to many things, and I was in awe of him.
When he retired from the Navy, he began renovating the 75 year old house he had grown up in and purchased from his father.
He did everything. What he didn’t know how to do, he learned from a book, and did it well. His shop was full of do-it-yourself books.
He had a pool built, and decided to build a 5 foot wide concrete walkway all around it with a large rectangular concrete patio connected that was 30’x15’. My dad had never laid concrete, but he went out, bought a book, purchased an old “one-lunger” rust encrusted cement mixer, and did it. We live in Massachusetts, and he built that thing in 1975. There is one crack in one rectangle, after all these winters.
He was representative of those men of his generation. Hard drinking, hard working family man, in a time before hard drinking became socially verboten, hard working before that became the exception, and a family man before it became a PC crime to be a man with a family.
Man, I sure do miss him.
Bwaaahaaahaaa! So true!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.