THE Peak Parenting Thread

crossthread · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 20, 2004 Posts: 179

So how hard is it going to be for them... My daughter just turned 14, and is very interested about Peak Oil, and seems to have "grasped" it's implications on her future.....
And has recently "noticed" that the same amount of money doesn't buy "as much" as the month before.... In asking why, she realized it's due to the energy and cost thats used to bring/produce that product to market.....
In the last few weeks she's been asking about hunting/fishing, and gardening with my compost piles, while not using fert's...
How's everyone else faring with their childern without scaring the bejeuses outta them?????
Confused

Madpaddy · Expert Joined: Jun 25, 2004 Posts: 2096

I found this Native American Prayer:

Prayer for the White Man
And now, Grandfather, I ask you to bless the White Man.
He needs your wisdom, your guidance.
You see, for so long, he has tried to destroy my people,
and only feels comfortable when given power.
Bless them, show them the peace we understand,
teach them humility. For I feel they will someday
destroy themselves and their children, as they have done to
Mother Earth. I plead, I cry. After all, They are my Brothers...

How right is that?

Sencha · Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2004 7:39 pm Post subject: huh?

What?

Pops · Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2004 8:32 pm Post subject:

Cross I wasn’t going to post as my kids are all in their twenties and of the “gotta’ get stuff” type (just like their pops was as they were growing). Instead I’ll talk about my grandkids. They are all under 10. But it is an important topic.

I find it fascinating how the little ones are so interested in how a crow feather shaped into a quill and dipped into blackberry juice works just like a Crayola felt pen - more so than the China-made plastic-pacifier in a Happy-Meal!
Their imaginations go wild when they learn you can figure out what animal walked through the mud last night just by the shape of the footprint.

How to tell which way is east.
What you can do with cattails, acorns and potatoes.
That milk comes from those stinky places along the highway.
If you plant a seed…

‘Course none of that happens in front of a play station.
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NotLogged_Supply_Guy · Guest

You know, not all PS2 is evil, Pops. Everything in moderation. I'm not refuting everything else you said, cause it's all true and good. I'm just saying that a little bit of time with games isn't bad. It's just that you have so many people who spend 3+ hours a day on them that give them a bad name.

Pops · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 9:51 am Post subject:

You are right Guy. And I spend way too much time in front of this “play station”!

Actually now that I said that, last night with my grand daughter on my lap, we learned about raising poultry in pens on pasture, different types of pasture grasses, etc, temporary fencing, and no-till farming without herbicides – all on this “play station”. Well, I learned and she looked at the pictures.

My point is that learning about the real world WITH kids helps them understand that there is more to life than going to work and watching TV.

Imo, specialization is for insects. Peak Kids will need to know how do things we Boomers chose not to learn.
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nigel · Guest

I say to my children "Look, this is a capitalist society. We have to make stuff and we have to consume it. If nobody made stuff they'd be out of work and starve. If nobody consumed stuff there'd be people out of work and they'd starve. So consumption, that's a must. Of course consuming is boring when you have loadsa dosh. When you have it all you can't eat more. How big can your house get? How many can you have? So to make it work you have to find stupid types at the bottom of the pile to consume, consume, consume until they get fat and burst. That way more people get work, make more and consume even more. Of course the more they consume the less there is for the rest and soon there will be less and less and then none. So more is less and less is more."
"Why encourage them to do that then Daddy?"
"Listen kid, I haven't got all the answers. Questions, now that's a different matter. I've got plenty of questions..."

CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1401

Pops, I have in my other office a quote from Robert A. Heinlein that starts off, "specialization is for insects..." It's a great quote - I'll have to remember to post it.

I have a lot of worries about the children of today - and how they'll deal with living in a post peak world. I have no children of my own, but I do have neices and nephews. I've been deliberately trying to educate them, in fun ways, of course, about sustainable living, even at young ages. My 4 year old nephew spent the day with me last weekend, helping me work in the garden. He had a blast, and so did I. We picked green beans, and cucumbers and onions... he learned where pickles come from :D and generally had a great day. And, he was at least exposed to his aunt canning the veggies. He also helped care for the chickens while he was here, and checked for eggs. He was so excited when he found an egg! Anyway, What little I can, I try to expose him.

My older neice is now 18. And though she wasn't around me most of her life (my brother is retired military, and they were everywhere during her life till he retired), she is now taking an interest in learning to do some things that will benefit her. Canning, sewing, and gardening have all come up this summer. So there's hope for her. My brother, in fact, also planted a small garden this year, and has called me repeatedly asking for advice on putting up food, how to deal with "x" garden pest, and so forth. I hope my neice will learn something from this as well.

My baby neice is now about 7 months old. I told my sister (her mom) the other day that she might as well "sign her over" because I have every intention of making her mine by the time she is an adult lol. :D When I told my sister I was going to teach my neice to sew and can, and garden, and take care of animals, etc... my sister said, "Good... because I sure can't teach her any of that." Besides wanting to do it for my neice's benefit in the future, it's also an investment for my future... a sweet little neice to take care of her elderly aunt Kathy when I get old :D lol.

Unfortunately, I'd say 90% of the kids in this country don't have access to that kind of education in the practical. What will they do when they can't just pop a frozen-whatever into the microwave to eat? It worries me, but all I can do is to try to educate those children with whom I have the closest contact - and hope for the best.
Kathy[/i]

Pops · Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:26 am Post subject:

My youngest grandaughter is almost 5, she loves picking "pickles"!

One thing even apartment dwellers can do is read to kids. The "Little House" series is great if you pause and explain what the folks are doing when they talk about going to the well, building a fire, etc.

I like this too:

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, con a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

Robert A. Heinlein
[Notebook of Lazarus Long]
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CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1401

Pops,
That's the quote I was looking for! :D Yep, it is a great one.
I also agree about the Little House series. It was one I read myself as a youngster, and part of what interested me so in homesteading. Of course, it didn't hurt anything that my dad is, and always has been, interested in the same sort of things - to a degree. He's not a gardener by any means, but if it tells you anything, I can quote dialog from the movies "Jeremiah Johnson," "The Mountain Men," and others of that genre. I think my dad was born about a hundred years too late. He would have made a great mountain man. Cool

I only hope that I am able to influence my neices and nephews in the same way my dad influenced me.
Kathy

delphi319 · Coal Joined: Oct 25, 2004 Posts: 9

Hey all, I've been reading here for several months and finally got around to creating an account. Some great info and activity on this site!
Anywho, this more geared towards the younger crowd. How has peak oil affected your decision to have children? Arguably, having a child will do a hell of a lot more in wasting energy than driving a car, leaving a computer on all the time, or heating your home. It adds a complete new person to a world that is already overpopulated (IMO) as it stands now.

Long before I ever heard of the term "peak oil", I knew that I was never having children. I always felt the world's better days were long over, and bringing a child into such a world would only be detrimental, so I can't say that directly due to peak oil that I'm not having children--but in many way it is related.
How many others here who currently don't have children will never have them due to the coming problems we likely face in the coming years? I know a lot of people choose to have children, as for many of us it is a natural instinct. I personally never wanted them for reasons mentioned above and other reasons, of course, so this hasn't been a decision that peak oil has made me think about.

jato · Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:36 am Post subject:

Too late x3. Smile

I don't think I would have kids knowing what I know now. Confused

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"Peak oil isn't more than an interesting industry factoid and doesn't have anything to do with the hysterics speculated on ad nauseum around here!" ReserveGrowthRulz

gonin02 · Tar Sands Joined: Oct 24, 2004 Posts: 33

its not quite the same, but there are alot of kids out there looking for a good home. have you considered adoption before?

seb · Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2004 2:49 am Post subject:

I am quite young (26) but it is time to think about it. If I were sure things would go as I think they will go (I mean PO soon with huge economical contraction, and then probably large scale conflicts. Not even talking about die off I do not really believe in) then I would not have children. But I am not sure... So wait and see for now, but the answer might come too late.

When I talk about this to my gf, she looks scared! How come the world could turn bad for our children? It is too awful too be true. Girls have a different approach about future most of time...
By the way here is a French phrase from Jean Rostand : "If sth is too terrible, this does not mean it will not happen. There is no such a proof based on the notion of too terrible"
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Not mother tongue. Sorry for the mistakes.

Barbara · Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2004 2:52 am Post subject:

If I'd knew about peak oil, I would have had my son earlier. If he was, say, 15 instead of 5 I'd feel far better.
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**no english mothertongue**
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Objects in the rear view mirror
are closer than they appear.