| If a hurricane swept your home away, would | | | | plumber had to fix the pipe. But the gardener |
| your family know how to survive? Would you be | | | | was on holiday. So the boss and I dug a |
| self-sufficient? Self-sufficiency comes from | | | | trench to uncover the pipe, replaced the |
| sharing many active family pursuits. | | | | broken section, and covered everything up |
| | | | again, even shovelling snow back on top for |
| A research doctor asked me to prepare | | | | extra insulation. Neither of the trade unions |
| equipment for him requiring needlework | | | | ever knew that we had avoided a two-week |
| because "I always had servants to do that for | | | | delay by doing their work ourselves. |
| me, so I don't know how to thread a needle." | | | | |
| | | | Even your maths will improve. If the recipe |
| We were filling in a form when I was asked if | | | | serves eight, and there are three of you, how |
| I was pregnant (I'm a man) and I replied that | | | | do you work out how much to use where the |
| as I watched people in the city there were | | | | recipe says two tablespoons? If you are |
| more pregnant men than women. They must have | | | | papering a wall and need half-sheets in |
| no activities. | | | | several places how do you work out the total |
| | | | number of rolls that you will need? How do |
| Kid Pursuits | | | | you work out the number of seeds to plant in |
| | | | the garden, bearing in mind how many people |
| Man is better than the other animals because | | | | will eat the produce and how much they will |
| of his brain. If we don't use our brains we | | | | eat, and the germination rate of the seeds? |
| lose our superiority. Healthy kids love a | | | | |
| constant round of activities because it | | | | Products of the kids construction will have |
| stimulates that human brain. Each new pursuit | | | | to be proudly displayed. They may not have |
| will build new skills and ways of thinking. | | | | craftsman finish and flair, but each project |
| | | | represents another ability that might be |
| If you spend all your time in front of the TV | | | | needed one day. It doesn't matter if pottery |
| the kids will have to find projects of their | | | | is distorted if it carries water to avoid |
| own. Many kids now spend hours playing | | | | dieing of thirst. |
| computer games each day. What manual skills | | | | |
| are they building? How to push some buttons! | | | | And yes(!) boys need to learn to cook and |
| | | | sew. If they go to college and they can't |
| Systematic Kid Pursuits | | | | cook their health will probably deteriorate. |
| | | | If they allowed a friend to bleed to death |
| Plan long-term projects including preparing | | | | out in the bush because they couldn't thread |
| for a vacation, so that the family can | | | | a needle to sew them up imagine how they |
| experience budgeting, arts and crafts, | | | | would feel. |
| gardening, cooking, keeping and butchering | | | | |
| animals or just fishing and cleaning the | | | | A young lady might just have to stand and |
| fish. Don't let your family pursuits be so | | | | look helpless to get the boys clustering |
| few and uneducational that your children | | | | round to fix her car, do the gardening, clean |
| could end up dieing within sight of food and | | | | the gutters, kill the hens, fix the door lock |
| water because they don't know how to unzip a | | | | etc. but if she doesn't know how to do it |
| banana, or clarify a mud puddle. | | | | herself, will she have as many helpers when |
| | | | she is 50 years old? |
| How can your family become more versatile? | | | | |
| Practice learning new things. The more you | | | | Conclusion |
| learn the faster you can learn, and the more | | | | |
| options you will have in an emergency. | | | | Vegetating before a TV is OK until |
| | | | civilization changes, perhaps tomorrow. If |
| Our research was brought to a standstill by a | | | | global warming floods coastal cities what |
| frozen water-pipe. The rules said that the | | | | would your family do? |
| gardener had to dig up the pipe then the | | | | |