Are You Passing on knowledge to the next generation?

[15mules]

We touched on this a bit in another thread, so i thought I would bring it over hear to keep from interrupting the other thread. The truth is I hear people all the time talk about how little the younger generations know. This, I have a problem with. Why do they know so little?? Who's fault is it they know so little? I involve my children in everything I do. I do not care if I am shoeing a mule or loading some ammunition, or working in the garden, I involve them, Yes, at times they would like to be playing, but I know they will thank me later. I paid to go to AP training, I took my children. When I build my AP system next month, my children will be helping and have task assigned to them, they will be responsible for. I do not say this as a bragging point. I say this because I think we have a responsibility to teach the next generation. Are they always going to be 100% interested to learn? NO, but we teach them anyway, they may not appreciate the knowledge today, but there will come a time when they do.
I will relate a story about this. I know I have a lot of stories :roll:
I was in a local flea market a few months back looking for things I can use. I found an old cross cut saw in decent shape and took it to the counter. There was an old man sitting there who said " I used one of them a lot when I was growing up, I bet you never seen one actually used have you, you gonna hang that on your wall". To which I replied " No, I am not going to hang it on my wall, I am going to put new handles on it and sharpen it and use it, and Yes, I have seen one used, and I use mine, I would not be buying this one if I were not going to use it". The old man then said " Well, I doubt my kids would have a clue what to do with one". I did not say anything, but I could not help but think "WHO'S FAULT IS THAT".
Now do not get me wrong, I have a chainsaw, but there are areas of our national park here, where chainsaws are not allowed and we use the cross cut saws to keep trails cleared. For those who have never used one, you may be surprised who fast and easy they will cut, when they are swagged and sharpened correctly, and Yes, my children have spent their fair share of time on the end of one also, not always voluntarily though. :lol: They can thank me later. ;)
Keep in mind it does not have to be only your kids or grand kids, show a neighbor or a neighbors kid your AP system. I firmly believe it is our fault the younger generations do not know many of the things we grew up doing.
SO, WHAT KNOWLEDGE ARE YOU PASSING ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION????

[Roger L.]

15mules I agree with teaching your kids but I believe you had one word that is most important. RESPONSIBILITY. Responsibility in whatever they do will meet there needs throughout their lives. Taking ownership of what they do makes them want to work harder to be successful. Doing ones best means taking responsibility for your own actions whether it is while working, playing with toys or sports. Competition is good but not the goal of pummeling your opponent, rather making your preparation and training culminate in having you met your goal faster or better than the next guy. This ends up creating sportsmanship. If you are successful at teaching your kids, and I believe I have achieved that with mine, they end up teaching my grandchildren. If they do their job, which it seems they are, my grandchildren will continue the progression.

Now to the problem. There is a section of our people, encouraged by the government, to feel they have "entitlements". This is not teaching anyone to take responsibility for their actions, so in turn their kids see this false system as the easy path to living and just as my plan of teaching responsibility, the following generations spiral in the opposite direction. This is why I have always said that those on welfare, aid to dependents and other "entitlements" should not be allowed to make that their career path. Also force the same compliance to rules as one needs to while trying to get a job, like proof of education, ability to pass a drug test, and references that say they are trying to better/correct themselves if the past shows some severe mistakes. Unfortunately this will end up having the very hard decision of letting some people fail and suffer some severely consequences. The liberals will tell you that is unacceptable, but even while raising my children I chose to let them fail with some difficult consequences. Just as I did when I was young, they learned some of my most lasting lessons from these errors.

I am rambling on a little but this is one of my hot buttons.

[15mules]

I agree with you 100%, the unfortunate truth is teaching happens whether we are teaching with good actions or as you pointed out, bad irresponsible actions, the children learn what they see.
I remember seeing a sign in front of a church once which read " tell people about Jesus, even if you have to use words" I think this directly relates to us. If we tell our children having a good work ethic and learning different skills are important, but we fail to show them through our actions we believe this, our words will have little meaning.
I am as bad as anyone, in that there are things I do in my daily life, which I think are not important and make little attempt to share at times, but to others it could be valuable information that they have never been exposed to and possibly would not learn anywhere else.
Look, we all seem to be very interested in AP here, I just think it is very important we make sure we are thinking daily, on how we can share this information with someone not involved in AP. Remember KID is a relative term, when you are 50, 60 or 70 anyone below 30 is a kid.

[keith_r]

listening to too much talk radio there.. entitlements? welfare and foodstamps don't even compart to the corporate entitlement system.. this is the system that has redistributed the wealth.. workers wages have been stagnant, workers went through and are going through a recession, and are footing the bill, while corporate "officers" wages have increased significantly.. look at how the tax's have been redistributed so that corporations pay less, and citizens pay more (shouldn't it at least be equal if corporations are citizens? re supreme court ruling citizens united???) it all starts with education, but the republicans want to do away with the DOE because it's easier to control the uneducated.... don't even get me started on the pseudo scienc they want to inject into education!
but keep drinking the conservative koolaid... i'll look at the facts

[15mules]

Ok, so we took a detour somewhere and got started in a whole different direction, so I will ask my original question again.

What are "YOU" passing on as far as usable, working knowledge to the next generation, or those around you. I am not talking generalities I am talking about specific's. I am mainly talking AP, but what the heck, I will expand it to other areas, as some of you may have some very good skill sets, beyond AP.

[urbanfarmer]

Ok, so we took a detour somewhere and got started in a whole different direction, so I will ask my original question again.

What are "YOU" passing on as far as usable, working knowledge to the next generation, or those around you. I am not talking generalities I am talking about specific's. I am mainly talking AP, but what the heck, I will expand it to other areas, as some of you may have some very good skill sets, beyond AP.
You.

[15mules]

Sorry, I do not follow what that means UF

[urbanfarmer]

I am passing my knowledge to YOU! :mrgreen:

[15mules]

I got it, sorry? It took me a bit to catch up with you.

Can you explain that again, only speak slooooooowly :D this time

[urbanfarmer]

15mules, don't forget you can also contact your local extension service too. They have a lot of knowledge and resources to share, and it costs you nothing! :mrgreen:

Actually, they even have programs for the kids. Do you have 4H projects over there? A lot of knowledge sharing IS happening, but there's the issue you mentioned before... some people really don't care to learn even if they are interested!!!

[15mules]

UF, yep, we got 4H, my kids are in several of the 4H projects. I intend to go see the extension agent as soon as I get home. I am also going to ask the girl doing the 4H if she is interested in maybe something for the kids involving AP.

I just put $500.00 in a account for my kids last year to do a goat project. They have 3 nannies and so far have sold 2 kids. The project is supposed to last a year and in the end they are supposed to show how they raised, marketed and sold the goats. I really thought it would be a losing proposition, and I would foot the bill! Surprisingly,( to me anyway) they had people putting deposits down before the first 2 kids were even ready to sell. Who would have thought there was a market for pet miniature goats??? :?:

[urbanfarmer]

:lol: It's amazing what people will pay if you market a product right! That's great. Well, I can tell you several years ago there was little support for aquaponics from the extension services, but that has changed. Some states have a lot documents made for the public regarding different aquaponic topics. It doesn't hurt to ask!

[eddiemigue]

I do my best to include the kids in everything that I do. Teach them some math while measuring and cutting lumber. They help with all of my backyard projects. They take delight in explaining some of the workings of backyard growings to visitors; e.g., they commonly explain to folks the history behind our three sisters garden, and how the plants work symbiotically. My two older ones (10 and 8) have their own garden section, where they are free to do as they please, learn what works and what doesn't and I am available for advice.

I agree that they don't always seem to be interested, and or prefer to help as opposed to play. Yet, I was very pleasantly surprised recently when my son wrote a paper on his 'hero' and it was on me because of what I have thought him about gardening. He explained the importance of quality, nutritious food, and being able to provide for oneself - a thing of beauty.

[Roger L.]

Sorry to have gotten us turned off on a road less traveled. Was not seeking to ruffle feathers. Another lesson the parents taught me was leave politics and religion out of everyday conversations. Still trying to get that one right.

My kids are all out now so the only teaching I do is how it works to the kids when they visit and of course the grandbabies ask lots of questions so we chat quite a bit until 30 seconds later they're off exploring other parts of the house. The most interest is by my lady friends oldest son. He is thinking about doing the same thing just smaller. I told him about the sight and offered to help when he got ready. But back in the day, the kids were very hands on with everything we did, both the simple and mundain and the difficult and challenging. It has to do with that responsibility thing I was preaching about earlier.

Well, off to drink some koolaid!

[JCO]

Do you have 4H projects over there?

UF, 15mules lives in Arkansas (America) not Australia. I would venture to say you will find more 4H projects in Arkansas than you will in Florida. Talk to kids in Fl. and say 4H, they will think it's something like OMG, WTF, LOL and get confused as hell when you tell them what it really means. :lol:

keith_r:- last word...send Obama your paycheck...he already has mine, but I did get to keep "The Change". :shock: :o

Just had to throw that in and I also warn everyone here. Posts to other than the sump are not advised when it comes to politics and keith_r (Ohio Democart) will be glad to lock horns with any and all comers...just keep it civil if you join in. :mrgreen:

[Roger R.]

I grew up on a farm plus my father was a builder and electrician. By the time I was 12 I was doing any and all field work, including applying fertilizers and herbicides, plus I would go to work with Dad on his construction crews.
The summer between seventh grade and eighth I was working on the crew building a room addition. We started early because it got hot later in the day. So here I am laying concrete blocks at 6:3O in the morning when the homeowner, not known to be very handy, came out with his golf clubs. He knew me and knew how old I was, after watching me lay a couple of blocks he asked me "how did you learn to do that?" I held up the trowel full of mud and said "By doing it, you wanna try?" He said no I've got a tee time, gotta go.
I didn't always like working with my Dad at the time but looking back on it now it taught me very valuable lessons about how to get things done, even if I have no experience at that particular task. It gave me that confidence plus a load of knowledge about construction and the trades that have served me well all my life. I think I passed that confidence on to my kids.

[15mules]

Yep, some new skills may seem unimportant at the time, but a person (especially a younger person) just never knows when the day may come, when a certain skill set may mean to be the difference between having a job or not.

I remember an older gentleman telling me once his father insisted on teaching him how to shoe horses. He said his father told him if he could shoe a horse, he might not get rich, but he would always be able to make a few dollars to eat at least.

[rutan]

I found out that to get the boys interest in a project, I have to involved them from the planning stage. Several times I was surprised at their ability to come up with a good suggestion. That makes them proud and more interested. If i don\t get interest from planning stage then I can expect not to get any. I believe that any undertaking must be exciting for everyone involve.

[eddiemigue]

Nice point rutan - give them ownership. They do come up with great ideas and most importantly, they take pride and have a vested interest instead of feeling like it's a chore.

[Roger L.]

If they have differing ideas it might be fun to let them build their own system and see if they can out produce the old man. Proven results can then be added to all systems and maximum production becomes the result. Everybody wins.

[eddiemigue]

Live win win situations.

[Aloha Don]

I know this is an older thread but....I am so proud of my little girl
She had to do a research project for her 7th grade and then give a 2 minute speech in front of her class.....
Guess what topic she chose :D
This video is of her practicing..Sorry for the quality but my battery was dyeing and it introduced noise...
http://youtu.be/gmsjqsyCZ8k

[JCO]

So Don, what nationality are you....I don't know why but when you mentioned your daughter...I pictured her short with Blonde hair...not the case...tall and slim with dark hair and eyes...like you would expect in the islands

Tell her she gets an A+ from me for a great presentation in contrent and presense of mind while delivering it...I see a great female spokesperson in the making here. :mrgreen:

[Aloha Don]

Thanks....I am white but her mom is filipino.

[JCO]

She must get her looks from her mom.. :shock: :o :lol: :mrgreen:

[David - WI]

SO, WHAT KNOWLEDGE ARE YOU PASSING ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION????Watch the things that I do VERY carefully; and then do something else... anything else!

[Roger L.]

David, sometimes we all feel like that.

[Admsjas]

Good tips here. I'm kind of in the planning stage on my first setup. I just got a 10G aquarium off craigslist, went to lowes and spent way more than I wanted to on a shelf, more space than I need but looked at expanding when I can. I know my kids will be into it, but the points on getting them involved in the planning stage hit home. We home school our kids and I was going to use this kind of like a science project, but after reading this thread I'm changing my approach. I think I'll incorporate it more like a course. I'm gonna have them watch videos and do some research on AP then we'll do a "lab"
They are 7&9 so I know they will really get into it [thumbs up]!!!

[Samaka]

I had three mentors when it comes to growing things. My mom who would go on these hard core gardening binges where she would dig everyting up - make raise beds, create compost. And basically she had us doing French Intensive gardening.

My nextdoor neighbor on the the other hand had a perfectly landscaped house, a green house and the kind of knowledge that came from being married to the former head grounds keeper of Golden Gate Park - which her son took over during the 80-90's. From her I learned about pruning, splicing and caring for orchids.

Lastly was my grandfather - who survived the Bataan Death March and had a Silver Star - taught me about intensive permaculture (though he would have never called it that. He had a 120 sq foot garden in the center of San Francisco and in the middle of it he had an apple tree. Some how he had something harvestable all year long and he grew enough stuff to share with others. From him I learned his water saving techniques which included using un-soaped rinse water and compost to feed all his plants.

So I had great mentors and I try to do the same with the young folks I've come across during my life. These day I drag my 2 and 5 year old to the community garden I'm designing and building. I've been reading and dreaming about aquaponics for 5 years now and am finally really getting my feet wet. I'm building a 512 sq foot system and plan to keep my young ones and many other around for the whole project.

[Rio_Grande]

Good topic. Glad to see I am not the only one who thinks this way. I am actually laying flat on my back due to back procedure. I just got finished explaining to my 8 and 10 year old that we were not doing much, both were disappointed and asked if I would just come out and watch them work on the lettuce system. Might well do that in a bit. I include them in everything I do.