Gardening is an Essential Skill for the Future

If you're a gardener, by now your seedlings are likely in the ground and poised for growth. Did you include your children when you planted your seedlings? Teaching children how to garden is excellent preparation for adulthood in the new economy. Knowing how to grow and preserve your own food is a very valuable skill for people who are between jobs and limited on funds.

An added incentive is that many of our food sources are now questionable. We can't control how food is grown in other countries. Produce is often coated with chemicals and/or irradiated to prepare it for long-distance shipping. And in extreme cases like the current situation in Europe, imported food can kill you.

Growing your own food eliminates all those risks. Kids love to garden; why not teach yours how to do so?

Practical Skills for Kids

Has the kids soccer craze run its course yet? Are we ready to teach our kids useful things that they'll need in the future instead of signing them up to spend their weekends trying to kick a ball down the field?

I'm serious: we do our kids no favors if we send them out into the world unable to feed themselves without a car to take them to the drive-through, and unable to clothe themselves without a credit card in their pocket at Kohl's.

Your kids will need to know how to cook, how to garden, and how to make things, and you're the best one to teach them. Get a headstart on raising self-sufficient kids with Back to Basics: Raising Self-Sufficient Children. Available now on Amazon Kindle for only 99 cents.

The Newfound Popularity of Farming

In Massachusetts, of all places, farming is becoming a popular new hobby (and sometimes job). Part of the reason is the rise of locavores, but for some people it's a way to make a living. This is one of the practical skills our kids will need most in the 21st century, for health and for saving money.....and maybe even for earning it.