"Do you have as many useful skills as your parents? If not, why not?"

I'm 38 and have an 18 year old son.  I learned so many things from my parents - basic life skills - I can't even begin to count.  I grew up in another era.  Let's start with microwave ovens, I remember when there was no such thing.  Then lets talk about television.  There were 30 channels, and almost all of them shut down at midnight.  No VCRs, computers, cds, dvds, cell phones, and gaming systems - atari came in my early teens.  I remember going to the local arcade and playing astroids - before atari.  I'm only 38.  Now my son on the other hand, he could be considered to be one of the kids your talking about.  My ex would ask him to go out and help change the oil in his rig - no, he had nintendo to play.  I remember, my dad asking and thinking changing the oil was something new to do, and would instantly reply YES. 

I think our children's problem is technology.  Why learn life skills when you can look it up on the internet - which is useless compared to the experience of your mom and dad showing you.  I also think they think - I may be wrong - that they have a sense of entitlement.  They had everything done for them.  A microwave will cooked their meal, yada yada yada.  

These kids also instantly get money handed to them -or toys- from the time they are newborns.  Advertising for kid channels is unreal.  (which goes back to - I only had 30 channels!)  I got to watch cartoons on saturday, and a disney movie on sundays, and basically watched very few "kid" commercials.  I was not inundated with what toys I should pressure my parents to buy.  BTW,  I have a 5 year old as well.  I am guilty of spoiling her - which I never was. 

This is a great question for me cause it gets me thinking about my 5 year old.  If I don't turn off the TV, DVD player, cell phone, computer, and gaming system, she won't learn a thing!

TI have this theory that it's a combination of lack of necessity and lack of opportunity.  First of all it seems young people stay dependent a lot longer tham they used to, since they and their parents expect this there is no need to take the initiative.  I here my peers say thet are helping until their children are "financially stable".  Of course the way to become financially stable is to get out there and be responsible for yourself. But this conundrum comes at the end of  the journey to maturity. 

The way w live today is not conducive to doing things for yourself.  If you want something just head to the mall and get it.  The idea is we are too busy to do things for yourself.  But what are we too busy with?  Dinner is ready in 15 minutes, how much time do we put into housework, and how much time is frittered away on entertainment?

We lived a working class life but we all contributed to the family.  Whe Dad came home (he was the family cook) he would start dinner by beginning the meat and potato prep.  One of the kids would set the table.  Someone would make the iced tea, someone would wash the youngest kids up, then when the potatoes were ready a kid would "smash" them another kid would make the salad.  There was revolving dish duty.  The kids started taking on chores about 4 with supervision.  by the time you were 12 you could do most anything around the house.

Parents didn't have date nights or go out to bars for boys or girls night out.  Occasionally they would go out to a movie and dinner but these were very rare events,  They amused themselves be doing things for the family.  My dad decided one year to make redwood yard furniture from instructions in a magazine.  Another time he and the neighbor built a common fence ehat looked good on both sides.  Some one gave us a pair of ducks and he built the pen with pool and duck house.  He painted our house.  He always had a little kitchen garden going.  I remember that he didn't KNOW how to do these things he would see them in a how-to Magazine and teach himself how to do it.

Thats how we learned how to do things.  When I was 13 I decided I would like to try a holiday meal so I pulled out a cookbook and just followed instructions.  I learned to sew that way too.  I didn't have the money for a new outfit for the first day of high school so I went to the fabric store and picked a pattern and material and went home and made it.  I had never used the sewing machine but it was just a matter of following directions.  The blouse and skirt turned out great and I made most of my outfits after that and my daughter's clothes for years.  Later I taught myself to embroider,quilt and crochet because I couldn't afford to buy gifts

It was a matter of just doing it,  You can do lots of things if you are willing to make the effort.  Even doing things on the computer.  After reading Roots I decided I would see what I could do.  After 20 years and thousands of hours (and toward the internet) I was able to trace my lineage back 500 years on my father's side and 300 years on my mother's  and produce a book for sibs and cousins

The only way we know we can do things is by watcing others do things and decide we will too.

My mother was a professional-quality seamstress who made many of our clothes, her own elaborate draperies and eventually did her own upholstery.  I was in intermediate school before I realized that not everyone did their own painting and wallpapering.  Mother could look at nearly anything at a craft fair and duplicate it without instructions.  Daddy did carpentry and occasionally electrical work. 

I can do all those things to one degree or another, though I will never sew as well as Mother.  (I am, however, a better cook.)  I have other skills, more technological and computer skills especially.  The big thing I learned from both of them was to TRY.

I work in a community college.  I'm in the "backstage" part of the theatre department, so everything I ever even tried learning how to do gets used at some point. 

The thing I am seeing with young people is that they are not being ALLOWED to learn hands-on skills.  Schools and camps are afraid of liability; parents (and kids) are too over-scheduled to take the time to teach or learn; schools are cutting back on "vocational" courses.  Young people often don't want those starter jobs because they will cut into the social life and extracurricular activities they have been lead to believe they are entitled to have.  A big portion of our society thinks money and fame should be handed to them, and the educational system that emphasises "self-esteem" over accomplishment isn't helping.  We're going to get to a point sooner than later, where the only "practical skill" some people have is designing their pages on FaceBook.  Car repair will cost as much as surgery, because there's no one left who knows how to use tools.