Where did they go?

According to a recent University of Michigan survey, “Young people grow up without developing the skills to fix things around the house. They know about computers, of course.”

“In an earlier generation, we lost our connection to the land, and now we are losing our connection to the machinery we depend on” said Michael Hout, a sociologist at the University of California at Berkeley.”

Here is some evidence related to what is happening. Go into Home Depot or another store like that and look around. Instead of finding a huge supply of assorted tools and home repair items, you will see a large variety of kits. There are small ones for small jobs like hanging a picture and big ones for big jobs like laying tiles or wooden floors.

Go into EMS Sporting Goods or another store like that and see more kits. Notice how many different ones there are for camping equipment. Remember when preparing for an overnight was creative and how much fun it was to be resourceful? Now you can buy all the gear you need all set up in kits and ready-to-go. Need some items for first aid? You can buy all different kinds of kits for that too!

Creativity and resourcefulness are skills that seem to be on their way out for adults… and their children who learn from them. That is not good.