Teaching Your Children to Homestead
Homesteading originally referred to the federal government granting land to families who were willing to work it. In modern times, it does not happen that way anymore and homesteading is about families who have decided to live off the grid and grow their own food. Modern-day homesteading involves cooking, farming and fixing things around the house on your own.
Most homestead parents understand the importance of passing on these vital skills to their children.
Why Should Your Children Know How to Homestead?
Children of this current generation have become over-reliant on the system. They get their food ready-made, their clothes already sewn and their water already piped to their homes with no knowledge of how to get these things for themselves. If the system was to crash then they would be left helpless with no idea of how to survive on their own.
Homesteading instills in them an attitude of self-sufficiency. It gives them the information and experience that they would need to fend for themselves in any situation. With such an attitude, they are well-prepared to cope should the world change in an unexpected manner.
As a parent, it is your duty to ensure that your child has all of the skills required to make it in a world whose future is uncertain. Most parents opt to give them regular schooling, but that education is sorely lacking in survival skills.
What Skills Will They Need to Learn?
Sewing and knitting were skills traditionally left to women, but there is no room for gender bias in the 21st century. Your sons need to know how sew, knit and do their laundry and your daughters should know how to change a tire or learn which way to turn a screw to open it.
Fixing things around the house is another job that both boys and girls need to know how to do. The time may come when your daughter is the only one on the homestead and she can’t afford to wait around for someone else to come and fix the leaky faucet. All it takes is the right tools and the right mindset and she can get it fixed on her own.
Hunting is a tough job and not just as simple as chasing down rabbits. Children in the homestead must be taught how to track animals through the forest and bait them so that they can become efficient hunters. Along with hunting they also must know how to butcher the kill, clean and salt it if necessary so that it can be preserved.
Hunting is good if the animal stocks are low but animal husbandry is there to provide a more convenient source of animal produce. Teach your kids how to milk cows, water them and muck out their stables. These are simple jobs that even a young child can learn to perfect.
Naturally, they will love some chores …
