Home Ec, 101

[femkes_follies]

I should be putting together a post for my baking blog. I'm too tired to be polite tonight, so I shan't.

Y'all generally love me, even when I'm being obnoxious.

So let's revisit the "sewist" nonsense. I think it's a symptom of something larger. There is a movement afoot amongst the hipster set to learn to sew, knit, bake, can, etc. Which is commendable. And then crow about their accomplishments as if they were the equivalent to determining the structure of DNA prior to Watson and Crick - which is not. There are even adult merit badges to be earned. O.o

OK, I get that a lot of Generation Y (And a lot of my own generation as well) did not get taught some of these basic skills by their mothers (largely). Heck, I live with a Gentleman Ranker. Replacing a toilet was a major accomplishment for him. But he didn't require major ego-stroking for having managed it.

Then there is the fact that they want to be patted on the head for barely learning a skill. If they learn to sew, the might learn to sew and apron. And it's "Whoo hoo! I can sew!" Errr? Yeah, now go try the Vogue pattern, sweetie pie. You can bake, can you? Punkin, muffins are not the end all and be all of baking. Go try some pate a choux and then we'll talk. And I'm not even being all that over-the-top on that. You can knit a scarf? Good for you. Now go knit some socks.

Don't get me wrong, it's definitely a good thing for people to learn how to NOT have to buy everything. To know where food really comes from. To be able to make things for yourself. Both because you DO feel a sense of accomplishment and because it's valuable in itself. We could stand to readopt the spirit of the 30's - Make do and Mend.

But the over-aggrandizing is starting to give me a headache.

I'd suggest that we throw out "No child left behind" - cause that's not really helping anyone - and reinstitute a home ec program. For everybody. Mandatory. It can cover the basics of cooking, nutrition, meal planning, smart shopping, and include such basic maintenance as changing furnace filters, light plumbing, dry wall patching, painting the RIGHT way, etc. Enough sewing to be able to hem something, sew on a button, or at least apply the chevron patches to your own uniform, should it come to that. Minimal carpentry skills, essential gardening concepts, and storage of staples (says she who just had to throw out some oatmeal because it got those *@#$*^% moths in it. And I know I should keep it in the freezer) Possibly some elective modules that would cover things like knitting, basic animal husbandry, etc.

Make them basic skills again. Which isn't to say that it's wrong to show off your latest dress or batch of cupcakes on your blog. But do keep it in perspective, eh?

/soapbox

Comments

[nonniemous]

This is akin to ALL the kids on ALL the soccer teams getting trophies because they participated, not because they won. I'm all for encouraging kids, but this "Pat them on the head for breathing on the field" stuff is for the birds.

My Eldest kid tells me it's like this at his job, too. The younger-somethings all need to be patted on the head all the time.

[femkes_follies]

Yes. This.

*sigh* Am I becoming the old fuddy-duddy, shaking my cane at the kids and yelling, "In my day we were hard dogs!!" ?

I think all that constant praise makes them unable to reasonably assess their own abilities.

[nonniemous]

There'll be two of us shaking our canes and yelling, then. I think I read that it's actually detrimental to the kids, to always praise them, both psychologically and in terms of that ability to assess their own skills. Kids need time and attention from the adults in their lives far more than they need constant ego-strokes. But it's less time-consuming to do the ego-stroke thing. That's my jaundiced theory, anyway, about our society. ;-)