Episode summary introduction:

There is nothing more important to our kids. Join TC & Maddog as we take you on a trip to focus on the significance of imparting essential life skills to them, as a means of fostering their confidence and self-sufficiency. This is not always easy as parents but the best legacy we can leave our kids to help them navigate a difficult world as they become adults.

In our exploration, we banter about a number of practical competencies, from the rudimentary task of lacing shoes to the intricacies of culinary arts and household management.

Things as simple as this sets the foundation to equip our younger generation with the tools they require to thrive in an ever-evolving world. Join us as we embark on this enlightening journey, aiming to illuminate the path toward a more resilient and capable future for our children.

Topics discussed in this episode:

In this insightful episode, TC and Maddog engage in a profound discussion about the critical importance of equipping children with essential life skills that foster independence and confidence. We know that while children may not come with a manual for navigating life's challenges, parents possess the unique opportunity to mold their offspring into capable individuals through the deliberate teaching of practical skills. The conversation traverses a variety of topics, from basic hygiene practices to culinary skills, highlighting the diverse range of competencies that contribute to a child's overall development.

TC & Maddog illustrate the significance of instilling these skills by sharing personal anecdotes from their own childhoods, emphasizing moments where they either succeeded or faltered in learning crucial tasks. This narrative technique not only renders the discussion relatable but also serves to humanize the experience of parenting, showcasing the common challenges faced by caregivers. The episode further delves into the concept that teaching life skills is not merely about imparting knowledge; rather, it is about fostering a sense of agency within children, enabling them to confront and ultimately overcome life's obstacles with confidence and resilience. As the episode draws to a close, TC and Maddog encourage listeners to actively reflect on their parenting practices and consider how they can ensure that their children are equipped with the necessary tools to thrive in an ever-evolving world.

Walkabout takeaways:

1. It is essential for parents to equip their children with life skills that foster independence and confidence.
2. Listeners are encouraged to reflect upon their own upbringing and the life skills they acquired during childhood.
3. The discussion addresses the significance of teaching children to appreciate both the good and bad experiences in life.
4. By exploring various life skills, the podcast aims to prepare children for future challenges and personal satisfaction.
5. The speakers advocate for a proactive approach to parenting, suggesting that sharing knowledge of life skills is imperative for children's development.

More about E-Walkabout:

To learn more about Electronic Walkabout visit us at www.ewalkabout.ca.

Check Out www.treehouseschoolhouse.com for other blogs to build confidence and success in your children.

If you want to read more “Thoughts of the Day” check out TC’s Book at Amazon:

“St. Mike's Fortunes”

A special thanks to Steven Kelly, our technical advisor, who keeps trying to teach these old dogs new tricks when it comes to sounds and recording!!

“Remember to take advantage of the moment before the moment takes advantage of you!”

Electronic Walkabout. No one should have to walk through life alone. We share the good times, the bad times, and the best times.

Everyone needs a little direction now and again. And TC and Mad Dog are here to show you the way. A podcast where we talk about the important things in life. Come journey with us.

The Electronic Walkabout. Well, Maddog, here we are in the studio again and I'll say.

Blustery December afternoon, five minutes ago, the sky was gray and buckets of water were pouring out of the sky. Now we see clouds and blue sky in the background. Is this a good thing or more gray skies to come?

I think we should just appreciate the blue when it shows up because the gray will come.

The gray will come all by itself. And some people like to live in a world of gray. Anyhow, that is true. So welcome to this journey of "Electronic Walkabout".

There's nothing more important to a parent to somehow set their children up for success in life. Or should I say satisfaction now, based on that previous episode.

Yep, Interchangeable for sure.

Now we know they don't. They don't come with a manual, but there are some fantastic resources out there that can point us in the right direction.

Tree House School House has a website full of information that focuses on the development of our children. Today, this journey takes us around the importance of teaching life skills to our children.

All we are really doing is setting the foundation to build confidence in our children. How many times have I said, well, did your parents teach you this or do your parents teach you that?

Well, this kind of points though, and we might be a little bit late coming to, coming, coming to this part, but while we're doing this, maybe think, well, geez, I could have done this better. I could have done that better. But there's always grandchildren we can mess up. It is.

Yep. Yeah, you learn and just make improvements.

So this really is about those listeners that are young parents or about to be parents or in between, just to help set their children up to be happy in life. How. But we put it that way. But before I go any further, thought for the day. We all have the ability to change the world, in case you were wondering.

Very good, Very good.

So this, this website I go to and it's.

And, and there's this, there's different blogs, but this one in particular has about a hundred life skills that you can teach your children that'll they'll build that confidence so they can tackle, let's say, the more important life skills as, as we move on. So what the plan will Be here is that I'm going to mention some of those, not 100. We're not going to get through a hundred.

Okay, good.

Maybe while we're doing that, think about while you were growing up, whether that that life skill resonated with you or how you actually learned it, or maybe how you shared that life skill with your own sons as they were growing up. Right. Okay.

You get to answer some of these too, right?

Oh, yeah, for sure. I. And, and as I was going through. And there's a couple of things. Oh, I remember. Yeah, I remember that. Remember that. Oh, I messed up on that one.

But that's out. But bottom line, in the, there's. In this list of a hundred, there's four categories.

Clothing and hygiene, in the kitchen, around the house, and out and about.

Okay.

So from the clothing and hygiene, one, lace and tie shoes. So do you remember how you learned to tie shoes?

Well, I think just by tripping a couple times. But yeah, just, you know, rabbity or rabbit. I think it was in school, actually. Yeah, just I can't remember what grade. Obviously very earlier on.

But yeah, I don't know whether I remember when I was a kid, I had some Velcro shoes, so maybe I wasn't a quick learner.

They had. Oh, no, there was no Velcro shoes for me when I was growing up.

Well, I'll just, I'll leave that one alone.

Yeah, leave that one alone. I just recall that. And of course, had two brothers and sisters, and I may have been behind the eight ball with, with learning that life skill.

And I was sitting there and I'd have my, my dad's loafers with the laces, and I sit there and just kind of practice, practice, practice.

Yeah, Man, I can't even remember you.

Deep. But, but it, but it wasn't a choice because mom would bring the shoes and say, there you go. Get to work. Yeah.

But obviously an important life skill because. And again, it doesn't matter what the skill is. If you, if you learn to be, I'll say, proficient at that skill, you can take on something new.

It's the challenge of you figuring it out versus being handheld through it.

Yes. How about crack, hard, boil or scramble or fry eggs? Do you remember being taught that at all?

Like the actual art of cooking eggs?

Yeah, that's right. I'm surprised it doesn't say omelets in here either, right?

Yeah, yeah. But no, I, you know, when it comes to food, I was raised very plain. People to this day bugged me. Like, pepper was spicy. Until I met my wife.

Yeah.

I didn't exactly come from a culinary household. It turned into one, but. But yeah, no, I don't. That's not something I recall the boys, obviously I was.

Been in the food business my whole career and I was a chef for quite a long time. So they got lots of fancy eggs and all that stuff like that.

So you were the role model for your boys for sure. But in between, you had no idea how that came to life with you?

Yep. No, I honestly can't remember.

So Saturday morning I would get up and I'm an early riser. I'm still unto this date. And funny enough, I would get hungry, so I'd take out three strips of bacon, couple eggs. Do the bacon and eggs and toast.

And I just taught myself. Yeah, yeah.

No, I was never that independent. There was always a box of cereal and some milk.

Yep. Here's one that'll. That'll make you laugh. Use a vacuum.

Yeah, well, yep. That was just chores, right. That was just built in chores. Same with our boys too.

Well, let me ask you, so what age did you actually pick up that vacuum and, and, and use it? Because in, in my house, mom was the one that, that was her tool of the trade, put it this way.

Right.

Being a stale mom.

Right.

So.

Because my wife has some weird obsession with vacuums and spot cleaners and stuff like that. So. But yeah, I was on the boys chores all along and yeah, it was just so.

Or getting into the, the, the pink jobs and the blue jobs all of a sudden. Or what? Or.

No, I'm just trying to remember. Like I said, the boys always did it, but it was just a chore on our list when I was younger.

So I, I think and the running joke for my mom was that the neighbors would come over and the vacuum was never put away because my mom was constantly vacuum and she was always keeping things clean. So I mean if, if through osmosis I learned to vacuum, that's probably the best to look at it.

Yeah.

How that's an important life skill.

Clean floors.

Clean floors.

That's bacteria, I guess.

Here's an interesting one. No tipping etiquette. So you're out at the restaurant, the meal's done. Where do you learn tipping etiquette?

My dad was a heavy tipper. My dad's a very social guy. Used to drink a lot, so I witnessed him and then I was in the service industry.

That was been my career for the first part of it. So I always was, I was a big tipper. I'd say 25, 30% was always something. Oh, wow.

Oh yeah.

But I was in that industry. Right. So I could, I appreciate it.

You appreciate it more.

But even still to this day It's a hard 20% no matter where I am so far as service. And this is one thing, this is a whole other topic is that everyone's asking for tips now.

The only place that I give tips is when I'm seated at a restaurant and I have table service. That's the only place that I tip. I won't tip anywhere else.

Okay, well here, here's a, here's a bit of a challenge. So. And I totally agree with you that there. And, and do you know anybody that doesn't tip? Because I do know I might shame them a little bit.

For sure. I would, yeah. No, I wouldn't be able to put.

Up with that because, because both my, my brother and my sister in law and now my nephew are in the restaurant business. They have been for over 20 years and they live on those tips, literally. So that's how important that is.

Yeah, but, but what if the service was not good? What, what's the tipping etiquette in that respect?

Uh, that to me tipping is all relative to the service that you receive. So yes, I will if it's a absolutely horrible. I don't say that I would never not tip. I haven't gotten service that bad. But 5, 10% sure.

If I really feel that we were just left and ignored and all that sort of stuff.

But so if you're really miffed about it, would you ever consider a 3% tip just to send a message or.

If, if I really want a message, I straight up wouldn't tip. But I just, I don't know if I, I just don't have it in me.

I don't know.

So you're, you're out there at a restaurant with your family and you've got, let's say kids at the table and they're, and you and your wife are talking about, well, how much tip should, should we be leaving? And they're sitting there listening, but they have no idea.

So the point of this is like bring them into the lupin and, and educate them as to the importance of tipping and maybe, maybe at one point ask them the question, how much would you tip in this case just to teach them that life skill.

Yeah, yeah. And it's, it definitely should be reflective of the service that you get.

Yes, for sure. Using a washing machine and dryer.

Yeah, I didn't learn that until I Moved out my parents place and then my boys. Same thing. I don't know. I just, I got real possessive about doing laundry when my wife and I first got together.

Oh, really?

She, she's like, I'll do laundry. I'm like, okay. A week later, I wasn't done. I'm like, I got this.

And from that day forward, I've been doing laundry because I like to be efficient at things and, and I love my wife, but she just sometimes gets distracted. So I'm like, I got it. And I just never let it go.

So you, you'll probably never hear this question today. What? Did you sort your laundry before you fired it in?

Of course.

The washing machine.

I got some weird OCD tendencies, so.

But you know, and that's, that's the way I was taught. You have to separate the colors from the whites. And there's a reason why, especially back, back in.

And let's say some of the new clothes weren't, weren't pre washed.

Right.

So literally a pair of jeans in.

With some white towels.

White towels. And what color are the towels at that?

Yeah. No, don't get me wrong. I've learned my lesson a couple times with some of my wife's clothes.

When we first started dating, I took it over and you know, it was not as selective as I should have.

Been, but I learned I may have had a pink shirt or two before it was like stylish because of that.

Exactly.

Yes. And what I was going to say, my brother and I, we went down to the coast to go to college and my mom was kind enough to make this binder.

In the binder was recipes, instructions on how to do laundries. And it was like, I. Ladies was like a life manual and we still have that manner today. That's fantastic.

I'm waiting to pass it down to someone, but he doesn't want to leave the house.

That's. You know what, that's a fantastic idea as a life manual for when your kids go out onto their own.

I like that. So if you look at clothes, you know how you have the different symbols and how you're supposed to wash. No one pays attention to that anymore.

But that was in the manual. Wow. Yeah. Taking out the trash and replacing the bag in the trash can.

Yeah, that's just straight up chores.

Chores. So what, what age do you think is appropriate to teach them that life skill?

I don't know. Like again, you know, it's. I'm sure it's a slippery slope nowadays with ages and stuff, but I Think like eight to me is like a good age to start.

You know, you don't have to give them a thousand things to do, but there should be sense of contribution to the family or you know, just whether it's keeping their room tidy or making their bed on the daily or whatever the case may be. But I think chores should start in and around that. Some people start way earlier, but yeah, and it's a fine balance too. Like I tell people, yeah.

If my son doesn't clean up his room for a week and then I say, okay, well I'm going to give you allowance, I'll give you five bucks to clean your room. He's going to clean his room. But the second I don't pay him, is he going to continue it?

So it's like you can't fix chores and with allowance and just paying for it.

No, there's more to it than that.

Exactly.

Yeah, exactly. How about changing a light bulb?

How many guys does it take to change? Are you saying what age is?

That's a life skill you got to teach your kids. Because the light goes out, you're going, oh my God, what do I do? You're looking up going, how do I do that?

But every kid has watched their parents stand on some weird piece of furniture trying to change a light bulb. So.

But that's before you used to say the word safety first.

Right.

So yeah, but you can imagine, oh, oh my God, the light's gone out and I don't know what to do.

Yeah, yeah. I would say, you know, 12ish pump gas. Ooh, interesting. Yeah, I think I was like probably 11 or 12 when I was able to help my dad pump gas.

Okay. So I'm going to date myself a little bit and you can chime in a bit.

There used to be these things called full service gestations where you did not, you did not pump your gas. And for that matter, if you touch that gas pump, you would be in trouble. You're taking somebody's job, taking somebody's job.

Of course we're in a different world and they're all self serve gas stations. You might find the odd.

There's still some enrichment actually that are full service, which is odd when you roll into one if you're not expecting it.

But if, but if you don't know anything about pumping gas, number one, you don't know the difference between diesel and regular. There's some challenges that could be had because we know very well if you put diesel in a vehicle that runs on regular gas that's not good. No.

It's an expensive bill that might not be repairable.

So that's an important life skill to teach our kids.

Back in the day, like in the mid-80s, gas stations were a good place to work. So I was a gas jockey for a while.

Yeah, so was I. Iron clothes. Do you iron clothes?

I do now when I travel. Absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah.

Probably only, only honestly, in the last, probably 15 years before that, I don't think I ever touched an iron.

So I can go into my daughter's place and I know very well there's not an iron there because she'll borrow ours.

No.

And I'll go, I'll take it one step further. In this house, there's only one person that irons. And that comes from my regimented law enforcement background.

Because when I was in training, I mean, and some guys, they, they, they sent their, their shirts to get impressed. Get impressed. I ironed all my own shirts and everything was.

Once I started traveling for business and, you know, you think you put everything neat in a suitcase, but as soon as you take it out, it needs to be ironed.

So.

Yeah, no, that, that I do now, but never previous to that.

Of course. This one's from the, the, the kitchen. I already kind of spoke about or, or made mention of a bit. Read and follow a recipe.

I wonder if my wife's listening to this. I think it's important to follow a recipe for consistency sake.

I'm actually talking to her through this mic, but I, I, I spent a great deal of my career in kitchens, so I am a firm believer in following, always have, teaching the kids how.

To set a table.

You know what, Give my wife credit for that one.

She was, she was really insistent on having, no matter if we were having, you know, like spaghetti and meat sauce where you wouldn't need a knife necessarily, we had to have full settings. So, yeah, the boys were raised that way.

So full settings. And I'll tell you a little bit of story about this in a second.

And it wasn't, it wasn't my mom that taught us how to, how to set a table, but there's this thing called fine dining and you have to make sure that when you set the table, when there's fine dining, that the, the fork is in a certain position, the solid forks in a certain position. So you're, you know where I'm going with this.

And of course, my mom didn't know anything about this, so good friends of ours who since passed beat beaten Donna McPhail, she invited all four of us kids over to teach us how to properly set a table with fine china. Nice. And I probably was probably 12, 13 years old when I learned that life skill.

Yeah. And again, I think that, you know, proper table settings are an era thing. Yeah. A little more our parents, some of us.

But insofar as fine dining, that's kind of gone to the wayside for today's generation.

Oh certainly, certainly.

But if you want to know now generation, start from the outside utensil and work your way in if you need to skill.

And I'm sure if you go on the Internet and use this thing called Google, it might see a picture of the bot cipher to help you with that from the out and about category. Be a polite guess.

Yeah, my, my dad raised me fairly firm to be polite. That back in the old cuff in the back of the head, if you weren't eye contact, being polite, shaking a hand, that type thing.

And I raised my boys the same way.

Makes sense.

And you know what, it's funny because I'll have people comment, man, good handshake. They look you right in the eye. I'm like, isn't that how they all do it? Like you just, you just assume, right.

You, you think everybody's doing the same thing. I remember I, I don't know what the comments I would have made but my mom would say how. Don't be bold. So in other words, I wasn't being polite.

Right? Yeah.

Like cheeky. Yeah, cheeky.

Different words for that.

Yes. Hygiene from clothing and hygiene. Learning how to clip nails.

Yeah. See, I've never hyper focused to think when these things happen. Right.

It's just. But did you learn how to do that because your mom or dad. Yeah. I think sent you down and say okay, this is how you do this.

Yeah, for sure. But the back in the day there weren't too many nail clippers. They were actually the scissors.

The scissors.

Yeah. I don't know if you remember. I would assume I would remember but.

I just, I just remember when I was in the Cub Scouts and we had to do inspection, they looked at our nails. So I made sure. So that was, I'll say my motivation to learn how to flip my nails.

You don't made an example of. Yeah.

Make tea and. Or coffee.

My mom was a big tea drinker so absolutely. I. Coffee. No, like it was, wasn't a thing in our house. It is now. But yeah. No, I always made tea.

But if I, if I asked you what does it mean to steep tea, will you be able to Answer that question. Because a lot of people wouldn't understand that, right?

Say, yeah. Like, my mom was a scholastic.

She always, you know, when I had homework to do, she'd make us tea and we'd either read or she'd, you know, work through my homework with me. So it was definitely a situational but experienced thing that. Yeah.

Okay. Care for a garden? Hard.

No.

Hard. No.

No. My dad. Nobody really was a green thumb in our family. My wife's mother was. She would talk to a plant and it would come to life. But no, that's not.

Oh, really? Oh, that's.

It's. It was nauseating. Like, we used to joke that my wife, you know, could kill a cactus, but her mom would just whisper to it and it would come to life.

But, yeah, no, I don't. It's funny because my next door neighbor's a green thumb and he's talking about all his plants and stuff.

And I asked him, like, where did you learn all that? And he's an English guy, and he's like, oh, my nan taught me. I always spent time with her in the garden.

So I think it's just, you know, what you're brought up with, if it's a strength of theirs or not.

So, first of all, my dad was a farm boy, grew up in a farm. So you would over and above whatever you were farming, there would always be a vegetable garden. So we're.

We're in Ottawa, and you could rent a little plot and have your own little garden. And I'll just call that one a chore because I had to go and water the.

The vegetables, weed them, and even to the point where, like, you're getting ready to, I'll say cultivate this oil so you can plant the seeds, the whole kid and caboodle.

Wow.

Yeah.

It's a life skill, though. You know, God forbid something happened.

No, thank God that I was taught how to do that, because, you see, it's a life skill, but it's an accomplishment. It helps me to move on to things that are, I'll say, more challenging than growing a garden.

Than growing potatoes.

Yes. This one I just chuckle out when I. When I. From the out and about category is no map skills. I don't mean Google Maps either, just to be clear here.

Yeah, it's like situational awareness. You gotta, you know, pay attention to land markers to know where you are, to orientate yourself. But not a lot of people have that.

So way back when, I'll just call them the olden days, we didn't have this Google Maps and you had to take on a physical paper map and figure out where you were and how to get from A to B.

My wife was always map girl back in the early days.

Oh, really?

She sat there and it was usually, where do I need to turn? Oh, just back there. Okay.

My dad had a fantastic sense of direction. That apple didn't fall anywhere near me. But I will tell you this.

And people say, well, how do you know how to get to this place in Vancouver or that place in Vancouver? I said, you know how many times I've been lost in Vancouver?

Have you figured out the hard way?

Yes, I figured out the hard way. But yeah, just knowing how to get from A to B and it's. And it's important.

This seems like a silly one, but something came to mind when I wrote it down from the clothing and hygiene properly. Wash ants. Yep.

That's again, it was. My mom was that way, my wife's that way.

So yeah, like, obviously I understand and believe in hygiene, but yeah, it was before your dinner eats, you know, wash your hands. Having lunch. Wash your hands. Like she was just. She's very militant with it. Which is fine.

It's fine. It's a good thing. Covid, I think helped that cause for sure. Yeah. Because washing. Washing hands was ever so important during that time period.

And I think that the. A lot of kids just naturally do it now.

Yeah, I think it's a little overdone, to be honest.

A little overdone. Silly. Maybe not so silly question. So when you wash your hands, do you sing Happy Birthday? Because you see. Oh yeah, yeah, that's.

You see that posted in different places. But no, I can't say that I sing anything.

How about this one? Use a stovetop and oven.

For me, that came about home EC classes in junior high, high school. Yeah. But again, my mom was not a big cook, my dad was not. So I learned it through school. That's where I would. My real exposure would have been.

And I'm. I'm gonna be honest with the listeners. Like, we have a brand new stovetop. I have no idea how to use it because it's. It's one of the new fancy ones.

And set it from work and turn it on and preheat it and all that sort of stuff.

Like you have to have those special pans to make it work because it's like there's magnets. Induction. Yeah. Yeah. And I just like tried it once and I just like, pretty sure I burnt something right away and I just.

It's you know, that's what for the old gas ranges.

The gas or the. The old element that turned red and.

Right.

You knew it was hard. Yeah, Yeah. I don't know. I don't know what to say about that. But, I mean, you think about that life skill.

Don't touch that still where you're going to get burned.

Most people usually touch it, though. Yeah, they do.

Here's a funny one. Know what to do in a power outage.

Hmm. Yeah. I say, growing up, I learned how to not be prepared. My dad was just not a hand guy. He was like, oh, there he is.

We gotta wait till the lights come on. There was no candles or anything, but over time, definitely have taught myself. And, you know, my one son was, you know, firefighter type guy.

He was in wildfires. He was always, be prepared, be prepared. So we eventually all got on that bandwagon and have the proper resources now.

But I wouldn't say that that was learned in my youth at any point.

Yeah, it's. And again, I grew up in scouts and whatever, and there was always that be prepared. But I never thought about it.

I mean, it would be one thing to have flashlights, but then it'd be another thing to make sure that the batteries weren't dead. Yeah.

And I think as a kid, you just naturally rely on your parents. You know what I mean? Like, you don't think that's something that you need to tend to, so you just hope your parents are prepared.

What about this one from the out and about category is order from a. From a menu at a restaurant.

I think as soon as you can read.

Yes.

And is that. Is that what the. The question is? Like, when did you first do it?

Yeah, like, how did you learn how to do that?

Oh, my dad was. He was. Like I said, he was a social guy, always loved going out. He always spins and counts and stuff. So we always ate out.

And he always used to joke, do you order your menu item by the highest number? Thinking that I just ordered the most expensive stuff. It was like, nope, you told me to order what I wanted. So that was it.

Fair enough. Fair enough.

And then with, you know, our kids, with being in the restaurant business for so long, that was just something that they did. So there you go.

But it's. You think about all of these things I've mentioned, and of course, there's another 80 life skills on that blog, but they seem simple to you and I.

But if we really take the time and, and conscious share those life skills, all we're doing is setting up our children for future satisfaction, happiness in life.

Yeah. And I think they.

Nowadays, they have a lot more resources to find information on this stuff where if for you and I back in the day, in our early teens, we'd have to pull out an encyclopedia or go to the library. So it's. They might have a bit of an advantage nowadays with YouTube and all the how to's and all that sort of stuff.

So unfortunately, that music is telling us at this episode, missile is truly over. Any thoughts about these life skills?

No.

It's interesting, though, when you put it into that context of now versus then and our kids versus how we were raised, and you kind of realize how vastly different the errors are when you start looking at some of this stuff.

The other thing that I was thinking about, it also allows them to deal with the element of failure in a safe environment, which in itself is a very important skill like that.

Have your parents there to help you up, dust you off, and then you can try it again.

So when you get something that's on fire in the oven. Okay, maybe I did something wrong here. I got learned from this. Yes.

So, kids, if you're trying these things, make sure a parent is aware.

Yes. Okay. So remember to take advantage of the moment before the moment takes advantage of you.

To learn more about Ewalkabout, please visit us at ewalkabout.ca.