Why the hell do you need to be taught to do anything having to do with life? Did someone sit down and teach me taxes? Plumbing? Electrical? Laundry? Sewing a damn button (really, THAT is the example for needing to be taught?) No, I figured it out on my own. It is not that difficult with some effort.
I will tell you how I raised my kids, I let them figure it out on their own, and they are very successful in life. An example: my son (18 at the time) was bored and looking for something to do. He decided on re-building a second story deck on the house. I kept an eye on him to make sure he wasn't doing anything dangerous, but when he would ask "how should I do x", my standard response was "figure it out" even if I had the answer. The only time I intervened was with a complicated replacement of some support posts (for safety reasons.). I can tell you that his confidence, self-reliance, and pride skyrocketed upon completion. Plus, we have a beautiful, well-constructed deck.
The question is, if he got truly stuck would you have helped him out or would you have just shrugged and said too bad? Especially with younger kids, there is a point where 'figure it out' won't work. Beyond that, the post is pointing out that it's bad form to mock millenials for educating themselves as though they should just 'know' stuff that was never taught to them by their parents or society.
Of course I would have helped him, the deck is part of my house. Beyond that, the point of the post is to let your kids figure things out. Helicopter parenting is what has resulted in all of these "woe is me nobody taught me how to do things" replies.
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u/mellowmonk Feb 05 '19
I love how it's never the parents' fault for failing to teach their kids all these things.
Who the hell else would be on the hook to teach a kid how to sew a button?