Its a skill that even adults no longer have. They THINK that putting stuff in a dishwasher is actually 'washing up' and faced with a really caked saucepan the one time they DIDN'T do pot noodles they simply throw it away and swear never to touch the cooker again.
We managed to survive without one. Or locks on the gas oven, with unshuttered 15A plugs/sockets, and with paraffin stoves in the bedroom and an unearthed eletric fire that gave you a shock, and with copious amounts of pills being left around.
Some kind of miracle obviously.
Nearest I came to death was when I forced the lock on my fathers chest of drawers, to see what he was hiding from me (tools mostly) and sawed the top off a live .22 round I found there to see what was inside. Magic smoke as it happened. My ears rang for days. :-)
You're not from these parts, are you?
MBQ
Those of a book-reading bent who are contributing to this thread (or to this newsgroup) in a particular vein may very well enjoy this recently-published book:
Big Babies: Or: Why Can't We Just Grow Up? by Michael Bywater
Bywater's 'Lost Worlds', published a year or two ago, is also a delight.
Cheers Jon N
Where's the torrent?
Ah yes, the demand for instant gratification ... another sign of the Big Babies... ;-P
Nice to see you have a great relationship with your kids :)
NT
To be serious I think the attitude depends a lot on how theyre treated. Cotton woolled kids are forever doing really stupid things, and of course theres no guarding them when theyre off on their own or with friends.
When you respond to the usual 'can i do this suicidal thing' questions by saying 'Sure. If you dont mind xyz happening.' then they learn to behave far more sensibly. They learn & grow up. They realise that they decide what they do, and are aware of the problems and reasons why not to.
NT
Well, grand-children. Much nicer because you know they're not staying long :-)
Hang on, it sounds like you're actually talking to the child here. Did you learn that on a course? These days I expect you can do a degree in parenting (if you can find a child minder).
... just the course of life. Society does seem to have lost out badly on parenting skills over the recent decades, and look at the result.
NT
The term "parenting skills" says it all. It's not a skill, any more than walking down the road is a skill
Walking down the road is a skill that people lose after sufficient quantities of refreshment have been taken.
Owain
That's why I drive home
Good parenting contains lots of abilities that are learnt, ie its a skill. Regrettably for various reasons its a vital skill area that has declined badly.
Walking is another learnt skill of course, albeit more universal.
NT
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