Millennials taught how to use tape measure and hammer

[seewood]

How about having millennials start with the basics... like looking both ways when crossing a street. Lift head up away from the electronic device and swivel head left and right...clear to walk, proceed.

[Lady tehMa]

This is what is coming out of our school system? Thats scary!

Bsuds, these are skills that start at home. Parents are letting down their kids, kids aren't interested in learning, there's fault on both sides. My son can read a tape measure in an instant, but he's interested in learning. My daughter would do so under protest. However, she is already starting to bake rings around me, lecture me on food safety and is throwing out "unusable" kitchen items. She has a scale that was gifted to her - scales are invaluable in pastry arts. She has a very analytical mind so "baker's percentage" means she's tutoring a number of her classmates.

Kids need to be interested to learn. But they can't be interested if they're taught indifference at home. All this coddling and pampering has not been good for them.

[Omnitheo]

How about having millennials start with the basics... like looking both ways when crossing a street. Lift head up away from the electronic device and swivel head left and right...clear to walk, proceed.

Not a millennial problem. This is a cell phone user problem and millenials are not the only people who use cell phones.
Indeed I’ve seen “boomers” or Gen Xers walk into traffic. No cell phone even required.

[Piecemaker]

...these are skills that start at home. Parents are letting down their kids, kids aren't interested in learning, there's fault on both sides...Kids need to be interested to learn. But they can't be interested if they're taught indifference at home. All this coddling and pampering has not been good for them.

I agree that the teaching of skills needs to start at home (and with grandparents and other family/friends). I would disagree with "kids aren't interested in learning". I think most kids are born with a curiosity and desire to learn and try new things. The problem is that some kids aren't allowed to participate in the day-to-day household activities and other learning opportunities. Parents may be too busy just trying to get a meal on the table, for example, to allow a toddler to cut up vegetables with a plastic knife or an older child to help with meal prep. Parents don't think to allow a young child to reach into the dryer and put the laundry in the basket and help fold and put laundry away. So what if the dish clothes and towels aren't folded perfectly?!
Sadly there are some parents who spend too much time on their electronic devices and miss opportunities to teach their children basic household chores and skill development like planting a garden (or small flower bed), picking up litter on their street or building something with a hammer and nails.
I also do not agree that children today are coddled and pampered any more than they ever were. I think some may be "ignored" more than they should be and babysat by electronics much too often.
There are lots of kids who are still being "taught how to use a tape measure" (and a drill, hammer and a sewing machine...). It's wrong to use the term "Millennials" in a derogatory fashion as the OP has done.

[Catsumi]

...these are skills that start at home. Parents are letting down their kids, kids aren't interested in learning, there's fault on both sides...Kids need to be interested to learn. But they can't be interested if they're taught indifference at home. All this coddling and pampering has not been good for them.

I agree that the teaching of skills needs to start at home (and with grandparents and other family/friends). I would disagree with "kids aren't interested in learning". I think most kids are born with a curiosity and desire to learn and try new things. The problem is that some kids aren't allowed to participate in the day-to-day household activities and other learning opportunities. Parents may be too busy just trying to get a meal on the table, for example, to allow a toddler to cut up vegetables with a plastic knife or an older child to help with meal prep. Parents don't think to allow a young child to reach into the dryer and put the laundry in the basket and help fold and put laundry away. So what if the dish clothes and towels aren't folded perfectly?!
Sadly there are some parents who spend too much time on their electronic devices and miss opportunities to teach their children basic household chores and skill development like planting a garden (or small flower bed), picking up litter on their street or building something with a hammer and nails.
I also do not agree that children today are coddled and pampered any more than they ever were. I think some may be "ignored" more than they should be and babysat by electronics much too often.
There are lots of kids who are still being "taught how to use a tape measure" (and a drill, hammer and a sewing machine...). It's wrong to use the term "Millennials" in a derogatory fashion as the OP has done.

Oh gosh, does this ever bring back unhappy memories for me.

My mom (now gone) was a perfectionist, and no matter what I did in the way of housework, cooking, ironing, sewing, gardening, ...all was immediately criticized. She could do it faster, better, and up to her standards. I dropped out of helping in the home because i could never get it right enough to appease her thwarted expectations.


Later, when I was on my own, I DID learn to do all those chores with aplomb, enthusiasm and relentless curiousity, and you guessed it, with "perfectionism" foremost in my mind! Thank heavens I chose Not to have kids as the cycle would have been repeated.

This is a short way of saying that what should have been a joyous and bonding experience, was not.

Since I was the eldest of three kids (the last two had a much easier time of it) I look back now to realize that mom was also learning, on me.

A word to those with youngsters: by all means teach them what it takes to run a household, but be forgiving if things aren't perfect this time around. Correct, gently.

[oneh2obabe]

Bsuds, these are skills that start at home. Parents are letting down their kids, kids aren't interested in learning, there's fault on both sides. My son can read a tape measure in an instant, but he's interested in learning. My daughter would do so under protest. However, she is already starting to bake rings around me, lecture me on food safety and is throwing out "unusable" kitchen items. She has a scale that was gifted to her - scales are invaluable in pastry arts. She has a very analytical mind so "baker's percentage" means she's tutoring a number of her classmates.

Kids need to be interested to learn. But they can't be interested if they're taught indifference at home. All this coddling and pampering has not been good for them.

on the scale. Must have kitchen tool for pastry chefs.

Both my brats were helping in the kitchen when they were 3-4 years old, learned how to do laundry when they were 7-8 and helped dad with oil changes, tune-ups, etc. when they were 10 or so. Learned how to use a measuring tape when we put in the deck and were overjoyed when we gave them each a hammer and let them pound in nails when we did the basement renovation.

[JayByrd]

I could barely stomach the article linked by the OP. What a terrible piece of "journalism". No wonder the writer won't put his name on it.

For a generation that pretty much raised itself, I'd say the millenials (I detest that word) are doing alright.

[LTD]

lol no most useless as

[JLives]

It's not "millennials" faults the skills haven't been passed down through the generations. I hope they are taking advantage of these courses and learning new practical skills. I was raised by a young widow who lacked the time and skill to teach me much. We lived in an apartment so there was no yard to plant in. When I left home I had minimal life skills because I wasn't taught. I didn't get my driver's license until my mid-20's because I had noone to teach me. That's the life for many kids these days. Single parent and working parent households where they don't have the time or knowledge to pass it down. I happen to be a learner at heart and have tried to instill that in my own kids. I'm not teaching them new skills so much as we are learning them together. At least we're learning.

[Grandan]

I have been available for projects for a grandson and will continue to be but I have been usurped by video games that run 12 hours per day. I don't get it, that there is a human being available to mentor and support but the video game is more important?
I have tried to make it easy for the parents by attempting to limit that activity around my home when there is a visit going on but the parents enable.
Gramma has tried to help with school work, music art and other activities but the example set by parents of being on the phone all day long is not lost on kids. So, the stage is set. A child entering high school who does not know how to write, or get along with his peers because his parents thought it was more important to travel for 6 months of the year. Home schooling is not what it is cracked up to be.

[JayByrd]

I have been available for projects for a grandson and will continue to be but I have been usurped by video games that run 12 hours per day. I don't get it, that there is a human being available to mentor and support but the video game is more important?

We're straying off topic here but I do need to reply to this.

I applaud your efforts Grandan, but the ship has already sailed for your grandson, at least in some ways. Video games have a way of sucking a person in, and developing brains are more susceptible to this than adult ones. They hit all the pleasure centres in the brain in a way that normal activities just can't. It's like comparing cocaine to a glass of water.

We got a hint about this when our son was about three or four. We had friends over, and they brought their nephew who was 8 or 9 years old. He had a handheld gaming device and was playing an action-packed game (Super Smash Bros.) on it. Our son sat next to him and was completely riveted, even resting his head on the older boy's shoulder and watching him play. We saw there how seductive video games (and screen time in general) could be. And this was without our son even playing the game himself.

Our son is six now. He doesn't have a phone/tablet/gaming device of his own. He loves watching YouTube videos but we have a daily time limit on that. TV isn't an obsession for him; he watches it most days but he spends way more time building Lego. He's an eager student, confident, articulate and considerate of others, and we're trying hard to keep it that way. We have a balance that's working, for now at least.

[HP]

I don't think the problem is generational and I don't even know if it's a problem.

There are a few references to repairing vehicles in this thread. Why would I tool up to repair vehicles when the fidelity of vehicles has improved so dramatically since the 70's? If you take a long look at your newer vehicles, short of changing a tire, the oil, and a couple of filters... there is nothing to do and when something does break, it's normally much bigger than the average at-home person wants to tackle. Our 2006 Vibe has had absolutely nothing done to it except standard wear items. Do I know how to change the oil? absolutely. Do I fell like rolling around under a vehicle spending an hour to do something they can do on a lift in 10 minutes? nope.

And so it is with home repairs. I'm 40 but I can remember a time when you had to build the thing you wanted because it didn't fall out of a box with assembly instructions. The modern way is that we have pre-assembled, mass-produced addons that you toss when you don't need them or if they break. What do I need a tape measure for - really? Most kids could be sent off into the world with a rubber mallet and a set of flat screwdrivers and that will probably be all the tools they'll ever need. If something breaks in your house, it's probably bigger than you want to take on as somebody who never has to fix anything. Hire somebody who knows what they're doing and it will be done instead of fiddling around with it for days.

I can't run a weaving loom and don't even know where to start. By 19th century standards I'm a moron and I'm sure people of that age would scoff that I have no marketable skills.

[Urban Cowboy]

A lot of millennials feel the same way about older generation. Fricken scary that they cannot do basic things when using a computer or smartphone.

These are the common tools of the future. Soon it'll be more important to know how to use a computer than it will be to know how to drive a car. We've come to a point where knowing how to use a smartphone is more useful than knowing how to use a hammer or a tape measure. Millennials are better equipped for modern society than many of you.

On the flip side their laziness......................errr................ cluelessness, generates me a decent income.

If someone is willing to pay me eighty bucks to put in four screws I'm good with it.