When I built my very first website, it was for an OU course I was doing that devoted an entire 30 points to learning how to search for things on the net, use basic html, find out how email and connected computers came to be (very interesting) and not write something biased and subjective. I wrote a very purple page with links to what were the main home educating websites of the time. I lost my only marks because I didn’t have a link to show the opposite side, how home education was a bad idea. I did think this was rather unfair.
However, what I gain was the ability to build something from scratch – and fix it if it broke – things which were very good back nearly 10 years ago when WYSIWYG internet solutions were a good distance away. I built the original MuddlePuddle that way and managed to maintain my blog in it’s earliest incarnations too. Then the shops happened and I needed help to create them because what they required was outside my help. Then newer blog software and CSS code came along and gradually, gently, all this slipped out of my grasp. These days I beg for or pay for technical support for almost all elements of my internet life and although that leaves me time for other things I can do better, it is frustrating to have become so dis-empowered in a process I once understood very well.
It occurred to me recently that I’m in danger of being shoved the same way in my ordinary life. A combination of laziness, disinterest and lack of confidence means my house has been decorated by other people and fixed by other people. I grew up in a home that was almost derelict when we bought it. I watched my parents pull down ceilings and plaster walls, put in electrics and re do the plumbing. As it became habitable, my mum managed oven repairs and appliance installations; nearly everything in that house was done by them.
I wouldn’t even know where to start. Quite honestly, I hardly know how to empty my bin, much less deal things like our recent corroding hot water cylinder which rather unreasonably sprayed mains pressure water all over the house after first bathing us all in the insides of radiator system.
The trouble is, sometimes it is just a lot easier to call a little man out 😆
I’m resolved to do better. Even if it is a bit late for me (old, old… I’m so terribly old…) I want to make sure my girls are a bit more prepared to give it a go before they call for assistance. Maddy is already better than woodwork than I am, Josie has learned to clean rather well from our lovely lady who does and Fran and Amelie… well, I probably need to work on them 😆 But Max has been teaching them to solder and I’m sure that will come in useful at some point.
What about you? Anything you are proud of yourself for because you learned to do it yourself instead of always paying for assistance? What sensible skills should kids today learn so they can take care of their homes, possessions and work life in the future without relying on the expertise of someone else?
A ‘lady that does’ – I could do with one of those. I am mostly totally hopeless rather then disinterested – did lots of the usual cooking, sewing (yuk, yuk , yuk), wookwork, basic DIY as a child but no idea on repairs, electronics etc. My husband is equally disinterested so children have no chance at present. TBH barely have enough time to do what I need rather than add house maintainence/building onto the list. I still haven’t labelled the new sizes of school uniform/ indoor shoes yet so it’s a miracle we still have all the bits. If it’s done by half term that will be something.
What I do think is really important though is money managing and budgeting and a decent work ethic. I have only ever once and then for a short period of time, run a overdraft. I’ve never ran up debt on credit cards and will forgoe ‘things’ rather than borrow money I’m not confident I can pay back. Some of that will be good luck and a good job but I’ve seen colleagues overstretch and get into terrible problems of their own making. Although I clock watch more now because I’ve children’s schedules to work around, I will stay where possible to get a job done properly even if I’m way over my time. I can’t understand the ‘tools down at 5pm’ mindset that so many of my junior colleagues have developed in the past few years. I’ve even been known to leave work to get the kids then return to finish up with whatever difficult situation was developing rather than leave colleagues less able or less familiar with the situation to struggle on until the next morning.
Knowing who to call on when needed is a skill in itself. Standing back and letting those who know what they’re doing is no bad thing IMHO. Just need to be able to suss out the cowboys…
Hi Merry!
We’ve been in pretty dire financial straights for the last five years with no prospect of the situation improving yet, so I’ve had no choice but to Do It Myself. My father was the King of make-do-and-mend (still is in fact, but he’s moved to Spain so I can’t call on his help – booo!!!). I used to watch him sometimes as a child and the skills seem to have rubbed off a bit.
Add to this some good ol’ common sense and some research, plus the occasional extremely helpful Youtube instructional video and I’ve managed to:
Convert a wooden garden store into a chicken house and build a run from scratch
Bypass the broken motion sensor on the outside light and plug it into a timer instead
Fix the washing machine twice (once replacing the door seal, the second time the brushes)
Replace the element in the oven (on the 23rd December – talk about cutting it fine!!)
Hang a door (blinkin’ hard, that one!)
Plumb in a dishwasher (obtained on Freegle!), which involved having to install a new tap valve in the waterpipe
Install a new shower (did that one with DH and we even managed not to argue!!!)
Install a CD player in the car
Wow, actually that sounds even better now I’ve written it down! There’s probably more that I don’t remember and I know there’s definitely more to do!
Funny thing is, I don’t remember being taught any of this stuff. I may have helped from time to time, but not a great deal. I think it’s more a matter of being brought up in an atmosphere of logical thinking and problem solving and an unwillingness to just throw good money away when you don’t need to. My parents, after all, were brought up during the war and post-war years.
So I don’t really teach my children this stuff, although they sometimes want to help or just come and watch (until it goes wrong and my face goes red and my speech goes blue!!). I hope that they’ll remember when they’re older that they don’t need to shell out for experts all the time.
And I do get a real sense of achievement out of it. I think even if I had the money I’d still do most of it myself……..or maybe I’m kidding myself there!! 🙂
Was going to comment, but it got a bit long, so I blogged instead: http://hmmn.org/sotp/node/1968
interesting food for thought.
Its interesting because when I first left home I could wire plugs, decorate, drill holes, build flat-packs, sew buttons etc but since meeting dh I dont use any of these skills now. A friend of mine split from her husband of 15 years, a few years ago and had to call me to change a lightbulb because she had never had to do it before. I never want to be belike that, and I dont want my girls to be either.
I am proud that both girls can sew, and lately Emma has developed a love of cooking and often bakes/makes and cooks food for us all. Both know reasonably well how to clean too. But I do wonder if they’ll need the skills we havent been teaching them, and whether we are failing them by not teaching these skills :/
We are both technically rubbish at stuff. Oh is better than he let’s on but plays dumb. We are skint so jobs just keep piling up until the house eventually falls down. However I did clean out the wheeling bin yesterday. In retrospect I should have paid a man to do it. Yuck doesn’t cover it….
LOL!! See–I would never have blinked an eye about calling in a repair person–I’d always thought that’s what you were supposed to do! Heck, before I married and left the world of full time employment–if a button came off an article of clothing–I had the tailors at the dry cleaners fix it for me! 😉 Have to admit–even now with a husband who can fix most things–I still want to call out a specialist!
Calling out a specialist isn’t a sign of weakness, it helps keep other people in work! I get paid for what I’m good at (well, supposedly good at), so I think I should pay other people to do what they’re good at, rather than me trying to bodge the job. Speaking of which, I must see our next door neighbour about installing a cat flap for us! I’m sure he’ll be happy to have payment in beer 🙂