Hey parents! Are you raising a generation of nincompoops?

[mrodgers]

My wife started back to work and I started driving the kids around in my car. We would run to the store, then upon heading back to the car, they would run to the doors and start yanking on the handles.

"Come on Dad, unlock the doors already!"

"Hang on a minute...." as I walked to the driver's door and unlocked it with the key.

As soon as I unlock my door, they start yanking on their doors again, "Come on, they didn't unlock!"

Again, "hang on a minute...." as I opened my door to reach in and hit the unlock switch....

Heaven forbid if the car had a roll handle for the windows. What would have they thought of that?

For the record though, my 1st grader is reading some of the "chapter book" novels my 4th grader is reading. They also both want to read a novel my wife just finished.

 

[arminnie]

My grandmother could make beautiful wedding dresses with a treadle sewing maching. My dad could fix any refrigerator. I can write internal computer software in machine language.

None of these skills are really relevant in today's world. So who cares if most young people don't know how to do these things.

I am more disturbed by young adults (and yes 18 is a young adult) who cannot evaluate information and make a decision. I love that today's communication allows us to communicate so well with our remote friends and relatives. I hate that so many young adults do not know how to take care of their lives in an independent manner.

A child without special needs who can't handle basic toileting issues or homework on an independent basis at 6-7 years old??????? A 7 year old (again NT, not special needs) doesn't need to know how to put a meal on the table, but should be able to go to the bathroom without assistanace.

I am just amazed when I hear parents talk about how much time they spend involved with their children's homework. I can guarantee you that my mother NEVER ONCE knew what my homework was. The teacher assigned it, I did it or suffered the consequences. I learned that there was a direct correlation between my decisions and the outcome of those decisions. That's what so many young children are missing.

 

[ilovejack02]

I am going to say it,

My name is Ilovejack02 and my 8 yr old cant tie shoes.


Well , he isn't very good at it let's say.


Thanks to crocs, sperrys, flip flops and sketchers zstraps, which he loves because he thinks are cool. I don't think we really have had any shoes that tie since he was 3 lol.

I bought him an new pair of Nike a cpl of weeks ago because I refuse to buy the zstraps anymore . We are working on the tying shoe issue, I promise !

To the rest of the issues, I am trying not to raise a nincompoop lol!

My little guy actually does know what ice trays look like. My ice maker in outdoor fridge died , so I keep ice trays filled out there and his grandmother also uses ice trays.

 

[Arielle22]

My wife started back to work and I started driving the kids around in my car. We would run to the store, then upon heading back to the car, they would run to the doors and start yanking on the handles.

"Come on Dad, unlock the doors already!"

"Hang on a minute...." as I walked to the driver's door and unlocked it with the key.

As soon as I unlock my door, they start yanking on their doors again, "Come on, they didn't unlock!"

Again, "hang on a minute...." as I opened my door to reach in and hit the unlock switch....

Heaven forbid if the car had a roll handle for the windows. What would have they thought of that?

For the record though, my 1st grader is reading some of the "chapter book" novels my 4th grader is reading. They also both want to read a novel my wife just finished.

My car does not have power locks or windows. My daughters' friends sometimes have to have it explained how to put the window down. Then I mention that is where the phrase "roll down your window" comes from and a lightbulb goes off in their head.

It is a pain to get everyone to lock their doors as they exit. They are used to the one button locking everything.

 

[allison443]

I love this quote in the OP

Susan Maushart, a mother of three, says her teenage daughter "literally does not know how to use a can opener. Most cans come with pull-tops these days. I see her reaching for a can that requires a can opener, and her shoulders slump and she goes for something else."
Teenagers are so accustomed to either throwing their clothes on the floor or hanging them on hooks that Maushart says her "kids actually struggle with the mechanics of a clothes hanger."

So maybe Susan Maushart should have taken a little time away from writing her book bemoaning these things, and taught her OWN KIDS how to use a can opener and for goodness' sake, a clothes hanger.

Oh wait, but then she wouldn't have any "shocking" anecdotes to promote her book.

 

[Becky2005]

As PP's have mentioned...don't have an ashtray? Why would your child know what they are? Don't have an ice cube tray? Why would you go out of your way to teach them about it?

Exactly!! Or Do your kids know how to use a dial (rotary) phone? Would they even have a clue what one WAS if they saw it OR would they just stare at it and go "how do I use this thing?"

My kids actually know, except maybe the youngest, because my mom still has one & she showed all the kids how to use it but normally it isn't something they are going to come across.

We don't own a single ash tray in the house either. Heck, there are things *I* don't even know how to use because I've never come across them so have never had a need to know.

Also, how many times as an adult has it been posted on the DIS "What IS this?" followed by a picture of a gift they got or something they found & obviously if they don't know what it is, they don't know how to operate it either! It's not just the kids that can be befuddled by something.

EDITED to add: Wait a minute as I was reading this that they know how to use ice cube trays -- it dawned on me that there are actually a cuople different TYPES of ice cube trays & both work differently! There are the plastic ones where you just twist it & the ice cube pops out but do they also still have the metal kind that have the handle? So it may not be as easy as "of course everyone knows how to use an ice cube tray".

 

[Nayan]

We don't have an automatic icemaker so my DS knows what ice trays are and how to use them. I also have a manual can opener and he knows how to use it as well. And the big shocker is that when he needs to look up a word he uses...get ready...an actual paper dictionary! I can understand where the author is coming from. Here in Florida having a manual can opener is necessary, especially during hurricane season and being able to figure out an issue when technology isn't available is a very valuable thing to know. But nincompoops? Seriously?

 

[golfgal]

ITA

My 3 year old doesn't know how to tie his shoes yet, but he can find his favorite videos on Youtube.

Kids in this generation are wired differently and they are more adaptable to technology. That is preparing them for the future. They aren't going to get a job filling ice trays.

I can't tell you the last time I hand wrote a letter (not a card). I think that makes me smart for using the best and easiest way to get something done.

My grandfather was a very wise man. He never romanticized the "good ol days." He used to say, "what was good about them? People died and you had no idea why or how to prevent it. You worked hard from sun up to sun down just to put food on the table." He liked sitting in his airconditioned house and watching ESPN. He was no nincompoop.

I don't think kids are wired any differently today then we were-they are just as 'up" on the new technology as we were-good old 8 track tapes you know. We are just a more technologically advanced society today.

People think that because THEY had to learn it one way, EVERYONE should, even though it is no longer relevant in today's world. I don't know how to use a slide ruler and I am sure most here don't-does that make us any less intelligent? I don't think so. When our parents were kids they didn't know how to use a computer, does that make them nincompoops?

 

[Mrs.Toad]

I don't know how to churn butter. Am I a nincompoop?

And on the manual car windows, I don't think my kids have ever seen one, either, and I have a friend whose child rode in a car with one, and came home screaming excitedly as if it was the coolest thing on earth, "Guess what? Johnny's dad's car has windows you can put up and down WITHOUT THE KEY IN!!"

 

[mickeysgal]

What should we do? Live in the past because that generation knew how to do things that we don't need to know how to do now? Is the point of the article that kids are too pampered to learn how to do things that are currently still in place or that they should know how to do things that are clearly outdated and have been replaced with more modern technology?

If so, we should all attach the manual pencil sharpener to the nearest wall.
We should ditch our TV's and go back to those with rabbit ears.
We need homes with root cellars and where we grow our own food and can things for the winter months.
Ditch the airconditioning
Ditch the central heat.
Use the manual card files at the library.
Toss the computers. Go back to playing Pong - the first video game.
Party lines for phones.
Never talking long distance to a relative that moved away because long distance required operators and a lot of hefty phone charges.
Go back to using cell phones the size of a brick.
Go back to a shorter lifespan due to to lack of the medical knowledge we have now.

What's the point of that article? Things/life moves on...and each generation has to adapt and move forward. It's called PROGRESS.

 

[mrodgers]

And on the manual car windows, I don't think my kids have ever seen one, either, and I have a friend whose child rode in a car with one, and came home screaming excitedly as if it was the coolest thing on earth, "Guess what? Johnny's dad's car has windows you can put up and down WITHOUT THE KEY IN!!"

Hey, I have 2 cars like that as well. Oh, you are talking about manual windows. Both of my cars, I can stop, turn the key off, take the key out of the ignition, and put the windows up with the switch as long as I don't open the door. (this is my "new" car I bought a month ago. The car I mentioned above a few posts ago did have power, just no key fob to unlock from outside while my kids are nearly breaking the handles trying to open them expecting it to be unlocked.)

 

[mom2boys77]

Lol, we said something about a record player a few weeks ago and my 8 year got this totally bewildered look on his face and asked "what's a record player?" I'm only 33 but I felt ancient!

I'm not, I know a few who are but when I was a kid I knew a few then too. Same complaint, different generation.

I will admit however that recently DH was cleaning out the garage and DD came down the hall one morning to find 2 turntables on the dining room table. She stopped and stared in awe as she slowly said......"are those REAL record players? I've never seen one"
At first I laughed, then I realized, she hadn't ever seen one they have been in the garage for years.

I will now go back to trying to figure out how this ipod thingy I got for Christmas works

 

[NotUrsula]

What should we do? Live in the past because that generation knew how to do things that we don't need to know how to do now? Is the point of the article that kids are too pampered to learn how to do things that are currently still in place or that they should know how to do things that are clearly outdated and have been replaced with more modern technology?

If so, we should all attach the manual pencil sharpener to the nearest wall.
We should ditch our TV's and go back to those with rabbit ears.
We need homes with root cellars and where we grow our own food and can things for the winter months.
Ditch the airconditioning
Ditch the central heat.
Use the manual card files at the library.
Toss the computers. Go back to playing Pong - the first video game.
Party lines for phones.
Never talking long distance to a relative that moved away because long distance required operators and a lot of hefty phone charges.
Go back to using cell phones the size of a brick.
Go back to a shorter lifespan due to to lack of the medical knowledge we have now.

What's the point of that article? Things/life moves on...and each generation has to adapt and move forward. It's called PROGRESS.

I don't think that the idea espoused in the article is that we should all become Luddites and go back in time; it is more an issue of what technologies that are STILL WIDELY IN USE that they do not know how to use, because of one of two possible reasons: 1) that no adult has bothered to teach them, or 2) that innate curiousity is going away. This second is the most troubling idea -- that if your first choice of method does not work for some reason, you just give up. I never saw that attitude when I was a kid, but I see my own kids default to that all the time unless I push them.

I grew up in the hurricane zone. One of the best things about that was that ALL OF US, regardless of age or socioeconomic status, always learned at least 2 different ways of doing any basic activity that affected survival. That's still pretty much the case in places where hurricanes are common. You SHOULD know more than one way to open a can, more than one way to open a car window, more than one way to cook a meal. The collateral benefit to understanding multiple ways of doing things is that if you know that there are at least 2 ways to do something, logic will tell you that there may be even more. As parents, we need to feed that most of all; the ability to think on your feet and solve problems when your technology fails -- because inevitably, at some point in your life, it will, and probably at a crucial moment.

Edited to add: I think that part of the problem (and I'm a bit guilty of it myself) is that technologies are changing SO fast these days that it is all I can do to keep up with them, let alone teach my children how to use the old ones. It is *so* important to make time to do it, though.

Here's a question to ponder: What do you do if your toilets won't flush for an extended period (make it simple, let's say for 4 days) -- not just the ones in your house, but every toilet in a 20-mile radius? You should have two alternative solutions for this problem.

 

[happywanderer2]

I think the point in the article isn't that the kid couldn't use a can opener or knew how to get the ice out of the ice tray, but that they didn't even try. Wouldn't it bother you if your child, when faced with a new experience or foreign object, just stood there without making any attempt to figure out what to do? Granted, the article is a little heavy-handed with the generalities--but her point is well taken.

 

[bas71873]

I am going to say it,

My name is Ilovejack02 and my 8 yr old cant tie shoes.

Well , he isn't very good at it let's say.


Thanks to crocs, sperrys, flip flops and sketchers zstraps, which he loves because he thinks are cool. I don't think we really have had any shoes that tie since he was 3 lol.

I bought him an new pair of Nike a cpl of weeks ago because I refuse to buy the zstraps anymore . We are working on the tying shoe issue, I promise !

To the rest of the issues, I am trying not to raise a nincompoop lol!

My little guy actually does know what ice trays look like. My ice maker in outdoor fridge died , so I keep ice trays filled out there and his grandmother also uses ice trays.

I'm with ya. My 7 year old doesn't tie well either. Who cares honestly? When she decides to wear shoes that tie, she'll figure it out. For now, everything she wears are slip on...crocs, Ugg-style boots, flip flops. Her sneakers are just that stretchy lace up style and she ONLY wears those on the days she has P.E. She's like her momma.....lazy shoe wearer

 

[Magpie]

Susan Maushart, a mother of three, says her teenage daughter "literally does not know how to use a can opener. Most cans come with pull-tops these days. I see her reaching for a can that requires a can opener, and her shoulders slump and she goes for something else."
Teenagers are so accustomed to either throwing their clothes on the floor or hanging them on hooks that Maushart says her "kids actually struggle with the mechanics of a clothes hanger."
Many kids never learn to do ordinary household tasks. They have no chores. Take-out and drive-through meals have replaced home cooking. And busy families who can afford it often outsource house-cleaning and lawn care.

My knee-jerk reaction is "and whose fault is that, lady?"

Sheesh. I can't imagine ever complaining that my kids don't know how to do something. If they don't know, I show them! Then they know, problem solved.

I bet most families on this board give their kids chores. And I can tell you, both my kids know how to cook. And they hang their clothes up, because they know I get very upset when they throw clothes that *I've* washed on the floor. Oh, and they can do their own washing, too, when the need arises. They're not helpless or incapable or figuring something out.

When I read this article, all I can imagine is that the author only knows a bunch of over-indulged rich kids.

Who can afford to eat take-out all the time? Or pay for lawn care! I fantasize about hiring a housekeeper, but I know it'll never happen.

 

[mjkacmom]

I think the point in the article isn't that the kid couldn't use a can opener or knew how to get the ice out of the ice tray, but that they didn't even try. Wouldn't it bother you if your child, when faced with a new experience or foreign object, just stood there without making any attempt to figure out what to do? Granted, the article is a little heavy-handed with the generalities--but her point is well taken.

That's what I got out of the article, too. I think we've gotten lazier, and our kids have as well. Dd14 was trying to get in touch with a friend, and her friend wasn't returning her texts or calls. I suggested calling on the home phone. She claimed not to have her number. Ever hear of a phone book? I pushed my twins in a double stroller to and from their siblings' school when they were four - it was easier. Ask your parents if there were any non-potty trained kids over the age of 3 back in the day. There were no disposable diapers when I was a baby, so I was PT'd before the age of 2.

 

[scrapquitler]

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39387465/ns/today-parenting/

NEW YORK — Second-graders who can't tie shoes or zip jackets. Four-year-olds in Pull-Ups diapers. Five-year-olds in strollers. Teens and preteens befuddled by can openers and ice-cube trays. College kids who've never done laundry, taken a bus alone or addressed an envelope.
Are we raising a generation of nincompoops? And do we have only ourselves to blame? Or are some of these things simply the result of kids growing up with push-button technology in an era when mechanical devices are gradually being replaced by electronics?

It's called technology, and advancement.

My grandmother probably thought my father's generation was a generation of nincompoops too...afterall, my baby boomer Dad didn't know how to milk a cow, churn butter, operate an oil lamp or use the wringer machine after handwashing the laundry.

Some of those things cited in the original post are simply not things that our children today need to use. A lot of everyday objects are now non-existent or uncommon. I learned how to use a computer with punch cards, my grandmother used an abacus my kid uses a laptop. Grandma called to operator to make a phone call, I was used to rotary dial phones, but my kids don't know how to use them because they text.

I don't see a big deal with a lot of this stuff.

 

[Magpie]

That's what I got out of the article, too. I think we've gotten lazier, and our kids have as well. Dd14 was trying to get in touch with a friend, and her friend wasn't returning her texts or calls. I suggested calling on the home phone. She claimed not to have her number. Ever hear of a phone book? I pushed my twins in a double stroller to and from their siblings' school when they were four - it was easier. Ask your parents if there were any non-potty trained kids over the age of 3 back in the day. There were no disposable diapers when I was a baby, so I was PT'd before the age of 2.

We don't have a phone book! I tell the kids to go look up the number on Canada411.

I think our city stopped automatically sending them out to households a couple years ago... Probably people were doing what we used to do, and just dumping them in the recycling bin. It's been a long time since I've seen an actual paper telephone book.

 

[Buckalew11]

All I can think of is sitting there watching the CoP with my dad and how he loved that attraction and loved to talk about how things were so different.

"Ovens don't clean themselves you know." "And probably never will." LOL