tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post7341706254398639936..comments2024-03-26T07:00:11.620-05:00Comments on Wisdom of the Hands: can kids play with fire? please?Doug Stowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-66058580225581127592010-05-12T06:38:57.152-05:002010-05-12T06:38:57.152-05:00Its true, there are parents who won't allow pl...Its true, there are parents who won't allow play-doh, or tools of nearly any kind. Scissors are ok if they are dull and don't work.<br /><br />When kids are very small, let's pretend is something they love. But even then, using real tools gives them a sense of the material qualities of the universe. When kids hit middle school they want to do real things with real consequences, but we keep their lives filled with lets pretend video games, ever bloodier and more violent. <br /><br />Talk to a kid and they will tell you all about the games, and can talk endlessly and pointlessly because they have little of real substance in their lives.<br /><br />We are making our children depressed, and dumb, and our nation intellectually impoverished by what we have done to schools, so parents in their right minds would know the need to take matters into their own hands.Doug Stowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-45474570543938152852010-05-11T22:39:58.267-05:002010-05-11T22:39:58.267-05:00I bought my 1956 Walker Turner tablesaw at an auct...I bought my 1956 Walker Turner tablesaw at an auction at the local school when they liquidated their woodshop. (Incidentally the school my wife graduated from almost 20 years ago.) They did build them to last back then!<br /><br />It's awful the direction schools are going with this... The only hands-on program left is Future Farmers of America, and they spend more time fund-raising than learning farming because they have no funding! Or the students have to fund it themselves on top of the taxes their parents have to pay.<br /><br />We have to teach our children creativity on our own. Last weekend my son and I built and painted birdhouses for mother's day. I've heard of parents who won't allow paints in the house, play-doh, or sandboxes. And we wonder why we have to drug them.<br /><br />Keep up the great posts! <br /><br />NateNate Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02121071952133715545noreply@blogger.com