Originally Posted By: Dan_McI
I think Mike_H is right in that many today don't teach children enough lessons in morality, but that may be because many today do not believe as much that certain things are simply right or wrong. If I go any further I'm into a political discussion about moral relativism and the so-called cultural wars, so I'll stop.

JeanetteIsabelle is also right on. However, I think many do not teach their children how to do lots of things today. I've got a friend who is pretty capable as far as fixing and creating thigns. He was licensed as a shipboard engineer, worked as one and as a mechanical contractor, so has can do welding, plumbing and a number of other skills. but he continually refers to his own sons (4 of them) as "useless" when it comes to yard work, such as raking or cutting his lawn. I know that by the time I was the age of his two oldest, I was out cutting neighbors lawns for money, and I learned from my father. If his sons do not know, then isn't that probably because he did not teach them?

I think there is also something in there about a changing set of what we expect our children to be able to do. For example, my friend's father expected mroe from my friend, than my friend expects from his sons.

To put this in perspective, I'm now twenty-two-years-old, not much older than today's kids. In 1994 I was eight-years-old, doing the laundry and basic cooking. At that time my sisters and I were living with our grandmother and I know that played a big role.

I would not be so quick to dismiss this generation with "Well, with TV, video games and the Internet, it's a loosing battle."

Jeanette Isabelle
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I'm not sure whose twisted idea it was to put hundreds of adolescents in underfunded schools run by people whose dreams were crushed years ago, but I admire the sadism. -- Wednesday Adams, Wednesday