This morning Emily (3) found a pair of scissors and cut holes in her pants, "to find her knees." They are a great pair of pants that have a very cute top and jacket that match, so out came my sewing kit and I patched them up. It was interesting to watch Emily's reaction to me sewing. She asked if I was going to throw away the pants. I told her to wait - viola - mama is a magician - no more holes, and she is back into her little pants.
As I was fixing the pants, I was thinking that I hope my girls will know how to fix a hole instead of just throwing the pants away. I thought of a whole list of very unmodern things I hope to teach my girls. Some of them, frankly, I don't even know how to do, but I want to learn. (I put a star by them)
Here is my list:
- Darn a hole
- Sew on a button
- Knit - with Irish blood I think this is a must :)
- Use a sewing machine to make something to wear*
- Bake bread from scratch
- Make spaghetti sauce, soup and stews from scratch
- Grow a garden
- Can what she grows *
- Do embroidery work (my grandmother was amazing at this!)
- Make a variety of dinners without a cookbook
Pretty unmodern huh? Of course I want my girls to go to college and have careers that fill their souls - but I also hope they learn the traditional things that their grandmothers and great grandmothers did before them. What about you? What traditional things are you teaching your girls - or hope to?
3 comments:
I love this, Wendy! I'm completely addicted to sewing these days and also hope to pass down some "basics" to Lenja. That said, she also helps me make Kransekake, a traditional Norwegian celebratory cake for Christimas, b-days and other holidays. She enjoys baking, but this is extra special since it's a tradition of ours. And she looooves tea (decaf of course) already, which is nice b/c it's a more "traditional" beverage that is not riddled with sugar and offers good sit-down "tea party" options for chatting with my girl.
i just DARNED a hole in my sock today! partly because of your post and partly because the BRAND new socks i had only worn once, you're not making me waste moeny on new socks. and it felt good to make something broken whole again. teaching my kids we don't have be such a disposable society. that being said my third trimester has brought on a fierce need to nest and with no rooms to nest i'm clearing out. perhaps i can make the most of this opportunity and really make an effort to see what we can recycle and pass along rather than the easy THROW AWAY!
as for sewing clothes, my mother did a lot of that. as a sewer myself, i find clothes rather a daunting task, especially when there are cute affordable things out there that you can buy for less than what it would cost for materials. but i am all about the accessories and have made coordinating wraps for outfits on numerous occasions! adding my personal touch ;-)
I'll add one to the list...teach them to find they're way without GPS! I overheard a teenager admit not knowing how to get around they're home town of umpteen years, they just need an address to plug into their GPS! How sad, so many adventures gone undiscovered. Turn off the garmin and the dvd player, get off your phone, quit texting and look out the window!
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