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
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. 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!

[15mules]

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

Can you explain that again, only speak slooooooowly 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!

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!!!