Raising Kids

As a parent raising children, I attempted to teach them a wide variety of skills, a love of knowledge and learning, and various other things that would serve them well in life. The teaching was not only in lecture mode, but rather hands-on. On one of our several driving vacations to California to visit grandparents, we took them through Death Valley. At one point I stopped the car, and made them get out. Then I drove several hundred yards down the road, and made them walk to the car. That way they were not just looking at scenery, they were getting a feel for what it was actually like to be in a hot, dry desert. That was twenty years ago, and they still talk about the experience. Other training was more mundane, such as the usual fishing, cooking, biking, learning to drive, etc. My daughter learned to change tires by doing it. However, I do wish that I had known about, or thought about, this! If I had had the foresight, they might be supporting me now. Technorati : Children, Miscellaneous, Teaching, Travel