Things my parents taught me

Life is strange.  Things change and some stays the same.  The life of a child is forever impacted by what happens when they are young.  My life was no different.  The things I did as a child, and who I did them with, have made me who I am today.  My parents are the ones who influenced me the most. 

A lot of you will think what I was taught is meanial and very chavenistic.  Not so.  The things that my parents taught me early in life, have helped me survive some of lifes hardships, that have been thrown my way.  Loss of jobs, lack of income and other things that have happened in my lifetime, have made these skills invaluable.

Growing up, I was lucky to have a mother and father who loved to do things with their children.  We were taught to do all the things girls were expected to do as we got older and some other useful things too.  Now you have to remember, I did not grow up in the 80's and 90's like most of you who will be reading this.  I was a child and raised in the 1950's and 60's, a very different time. 

My mom taught me how to cook, clean, sew, knit and take care of a family.  I have been doing most of these things since I was around 9 or 10.  Now don't get me wrong I am not telling you this because I think it is wrong, exactly the opposite, it is something that should be taught to children, not only girls, but boys too.  Some of these things come in handy, especially when money is scarce and you actually have to cook, instead of ordering out or opening a package of prepared  food that you pop in the microwave.  I know people that could not survive without that little piece of heaven, the microwave.   There were no such things back then.  In fact we had a wood stove in our kitchen for a good part of my childhood.  That is where I learned to cook and start fires(one of my favourite things to do).   

As anyone in my family can tell you, I am the fire starter in our family.  I can build a fire out of anything, as long as it will burn.  It does however take some finesse to start a fire in a stove.   I can remember gassing my family on more than one occasion.  The house would fill up with smoke and you would have to fan the door just to clear the smoke out enough to see.  I learned early, the use for a damper on a chimney flue.  Now, most of you will not be aware of this, but you cannot start a fire with large pieces of wood.  It takes kindling(really small pieces of thin wood) to start a fire.  You cannot just throw them in the stove and expect them to catch fire either.  They have to be strategically place in order to get the best flame.  Just remember you need air for the fire to work.  That is where the damper(draft) on the flue comes in.  Wood stove fires are wonderful on a cold day.
I can sew you a shirt, skirt, dress, pants and or a coat.  I can knit you a sweater, blanket, scarf or hat.  I know how to cook a gourmet meal, or hot dogs and chili, or a wonderful fudge brownie, all made from scratch.  I can clean almost anything you could hand me.  I learned all the things needed to survive as a wife and mother from my mother and the other women in my close knit family. 

Now on the other hand, my father had a full set of survival skills too.  He was a man that loved the out doors.  He hunted, fished, worked on cars and chopped down trees.  All things that are very helpful things for a young child to learn.  Problem was he had no boys, just three little girls.  I thought the sun rose and set over my dad.  I wanted to be just like him.  So I learned.

I can catch a fish, clean it and cook a gourmet meal with it for you.  Over the years I became a rather good fly fisher.  As I found over the years, it takes some skill to learn how to flick a fly rod and line just right to get the fly and line where you want to go.  There is not a lot of room for error in the bush.  My dad found that out one day.

He was casting the line out onto the pond.  The line got stuck and when he flicked it to get the line out of the tree, here comes the fish hook, RIGHT INTO HIS UPPER LIP.  That cut that fishing trip short.  All I heard were some cuss words, and "come on get your stuff, we are going back to town".  We had to get back to town to get the hook taken out.  Not one of his better days.  Grumbled all the way home.

My dad also worked on cars in our back yard.  This skill has come in handy over the years.  Saves a lot of money if you can change your own oil, tires and do little things with a car engine that need to be done.   I have found that over the years, if you can tell a mechanic what it is you want done, chances are you won't get ripped off.   Handy little skill to have. 

Anyway,  kids today are not as skill savey as we were as kids.  They are more into computers and gadgets that,"do things for you".   I hope at some point in their lives, the children from this generation begin to take some interest in the way things used to be.  It is a wonderful way for children to bond with their parents, and in turn learn some valuable lessons.  You never know when these things, "my parents taught me", might come in handy.

So when you are thinking about things to do with children in your life.  Do something out of the ordinary.  Teach them to cook, clean a stain, chop firewood, cut out a pattern and sew pajamas.  Do things that they may need someday.  Not everyone has money.  Not everyone can afford to buy everything they want.  Teach them the survival skills that may come in handy.  If you don't know how, learn together.  It will be time well spent.  Then they will be proud and able to say, look at the things my parents taught me.