teach your Children well.

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As a by the way, I'd like to know what if any thing ya'll(excuse the southern american english) are teaching your minor children which is useful. For example: I'm teaching my 12yr old to drive the family vehicles. He's learning how to detail clean the armoury. The boy scouts taught him first aid. He knows how to read and follow simple oral and written instructions. He knows how to build a snow cave. He knows how to shoot. We go to the wives mothers old folks home and he knows how to sit and listen and respond in an intellegent/articulate manner. He can cook simple meals. He knows about money,what it is, what it does, where to get it, what to do with it.He's aware about being responsable. He knows about being kind ,reverent, honest, loyal. He can be still and stalk. He knows about honor and being honorable.I am teaching him how to think.He knows how to form a question. He can do basic math up to and including geometry, most of it in his head. He knows why being honest is the best course of action and what you can expect if you are not honest. He knows what humor is.He can measure a wooden part and cut it with power/hand tools. He's learning to estimate the distance to a target.I'm teaching him what I know of the basic building trades. He can field dress a rabbit.He can fish.He can also go to the bad sites on the net and look at nude women if I don't have the NetNanny filters tuned.(Must be a almost teen thing. They are getting better at this stuff.)He knows about being helpful and about hating bullys.He learned the hard way about stopping for traffic and what being in a wheel chair all summer was about.BTW all he has now is the scars.He knows that a smile will get you a long way, especially if you mean it. He knows about baseball. What am I missing?

nine

For some un explained reason I STILL hear Crosby, Stills, Nash, AND poor Old Burned Out Neal Young singing, "Teach your children well"

-- nine (nine_fingers@hotmail.com), November 28, 1998

Answers

Good job, nine. Teach hime about community cooperation and sharing with friends. Take him "downtown" and show him what services there are in the community, and who is likely to offer help and who will need help.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 28, 1998.

Thanks Diane, I'm such a loner that I don't think about the networking stuff much. A little better background in infrastructure and group interaction would be most helpful.My wife is the people person and she's given him the charm and persuasional skills I sorely lack.And a trip to the water works and sewer plant would be a good thing to do.

-- nine (nine_fingers@hotmail.com), November 28, 1998.

Teach him history. REAL history. NOT the crap they're teaching in schools today.

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), November 28, 1998.

Teach him frugality, and he will be generous. Teach him mercy, and he will have courage. Teach him compassion, and he will be loved. Teach him humility, and he will be a leader of men.

May we all be blessed with children, for they are our true future.

-- Lon Frank (postit@here.com), November 28, 1998.


Put his (her) hands on steel, on machinery, on wrenches and screwdrivers. Give them a respect (not fear) of technology, and the technology will behave. Approach technology with fear and ignorance, and he or she will be slaves (pawns) in the hands of people who "know" how.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), November 29, 1998.


Most importantly, teach him philosophy. Where are we going? What are we doing? Why are we doing it? What is a self? Where do we come from? How do we function? Who are we? In the end we all die, anyway. But to have dealt with these kinda questions is of the utmost importance, (at least to me). I can honestly say before I die, I did look into these things. Some answers in no order are : Civilization, God, Pre- destination, Socialization, spirit/soul/body, beliefs, free-will, comfort, convenience, leisure & luxury, satisfaction, Freedom, safety, security, identity, values, viewpoints, love, justice, conscience, & to EXPERIENCE life for what it is! Thank you!

-- Randy (flembob@usa.net), December 14, 1998.

Teach him security- especially not to talk about some of the stuff you're teaching him to anyone who doesn't have "need to know." Teach him how to find out things HE needs to know, either through informed use of printed sources, online sources, or (my favorite) by finding an expert and learning from that person. Teach him how to evaluate his sources, how to look at things from all sides, how not to jump to hasty conclusions. Sounds like you're off to a good start- he sounds smarter than most adults these days. By the way- best of luck to BOTH of you with the rest of the teenage stuff.

And one other thing- teach him that y'all is the contraction for you all (-5 for spelling) ;-).

-- nemo... (nemo@deepsix.com), December 14, 1998.


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