An Offer/JMIT Babble

[debka_notion]

(Because I'm a Jewish Mother In Training) I'm noticing a distinct lack of household skills in a number of folks I know, of late- in things that I always thought of as really basic: cleaning, cooking, basic mending (sewing buttons). I feel like I should offer some sort of basic hosuekeeping lessons for a number of my friends. Today I gave a basic demonstration of resewing buttons. As far as I know, this is something I learned from my mother before I started high school, possibly before middle school. Certainly she started me sewing "straight" lines around age 6- it was a real treat too, because we could only sew with her supervision, so when she made the time to do so, it was very exciting. I've been cleaning for longer than that: it isn't hard, you just keep scrubbing, unless you're doing walls or something like that.

If anyone is interested in lessons or the like- aka, chances to get help mending or making pleasing food, let me know.


Outside of that, I had a quiet day- slept in, called home, did work, editted Hebrew: all the usual Sunday stuff. Life continues.

Comments

[jessebeller.livejournal.com]

i think people start doing many of those things when they decide its useful to them.

its not that folks cant sew on buttons so much as they havent convinced themselves its worth the effort to try. in some cases, the consequences themselves change (other people stop cooking your food as you leave home and college and learning to cook will be what keeps you fed) and in others, simply the import of the consequences in question are felt more strongly.

regardless, i salute your effort. encouragement can be a strong motivator, and nothing helps like a little help.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

Interesting -- I learned all of these things in Home Ec. in middle school, which has always been my indication that home ec. is a useful thing. I suspect that part of the problem is that there's just no way to learn things like that unless someone teaches it to you.

[jessebeller.livejournal.com]

once the cognitive leap as been made that says that buttons, if loose, can be resewn, most people i know can figure out how to get some thread on a needle and poke the thing through a shirt in the right place. they'd most of them probably do it even better the second time.

same thing with cooking, although with a steeper learning curve. once youve got the whole making things hot cooks them bit, its just a matter of making enough things hot to figure it out.

i wonder if there is such a thing that is unlearnable unless someone teaches you. certainly there are things that cannot be taught, but i would strongly doubt that anything relies exclusively on teaching for the learning.

[nuqotw.livejournal.com]

I want lessons. How do I clean? Bleach and ammonia didn't work out as well as I hoped. Sewing and cooking would be good too. Eating raw pigeon naked is a cold and disgusting experience. And the feathers are difficult to chew.