Am I the only person who thinks the younger people who are growing up in this digital age are totally clueless when it comes to practical skills? Remember in the past we talked book smart vs. street smart or plain old common sense. We, as the “older” generation learned how to use the web, blog, web design and scramble our brains to keep up. My crystal ball tells me there will be more searches on How to Use a Hammer, How to Change a Light Bulb, How to Change a Tire and "The Top 10 Things to Do During An Internet Outage.
A shelf fell in the kitchen and I watched one of these digital wizards struggle to figure out how to fix it and try to save the dishes that were falling. After a couple of clicks and no success came a desperate alt shift delete and reset. Meaning give up, walk away and leave it for tech support. I swooped down like a super hero and saved the dishes and fixed the broken shelf. But then again, I like thinking and problem solving and the hands-on process of fixing my cabinet or putting a table together. Don’t get me wrong, I am not handy by any means, when I hammer a nail to hang a picture and I am umber pleased with myself.
You can’t fault anyone for not knowing how or not knowing the answer but please try before you ask. I laughed to myself when I had to explain how to use a cassette player. Not to record something on the cassette but to play a cassette. Not one student thought to try to figure it out before asking me how to play the cassette? Come on people a 4 year-old would have tried to stick the cassette somewhere in the player. Where’s the curiosity gone?
There are so many advantages to this digital coming of age but it is up to us as parents and adults to make sure we are teaching the practical things that will help them to use their greatest resource - their minds. We have done so much for our kids we have forgotten to teach them how to be independent adults. Everything is not a point, click, and submit button away. Sometimes they need to get out of the chair and DO something.
A shelf fell in the kitchen and I watched one of these digital wizards struggle to figure out how to fix it and try to save the dishes that were falling. After a couple of clicks and no success came a desperate alt shift delete and reset. Meaning give up, walk away and leave it for tech support. I swooped down like a super hero and saved the dishes and fixed the broken shelf. But then again, I like thinking and problem solving and the hands-on process of fixing my cabinet or putting a table together. Don’t get me wrong, I am not handy by any means, when I hammer a nail to hang a picture and I am umber pleased with myself.
You can’t fault anyone for not knowing how or not knowing the answer but please try before you ask. I laughed to myself when I had to explain how to use a cassette player. Not to record something on the cassette but to play a cassette. Not one student thought to try to figure it out before asking me how to play the cassette? Come on people a 4 year-old would have tried to stick the cassette somewhere in the player. Where’s the curiosity gone?
There are so many advantages to this digital coming of age but it is up to us as parents and adults to make sure we are teaching the practical things that will help them to use their greatest resource - their minds. We have done so much for our kids we have forgotten to teach them how to be independent adults. Everything is not a point, click, and submit button away. Sometimes they need to get out of the chair and DO something.
We need to do a better job of making sure our kids become more self-reliant so they do not depend on us to wipe their noses at 25. Wait, I mean find the tissue for them to wipe their nose. They can wipe their nose, if, we give them the tissue.
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