Habits learned from our parents.

A lot

 

When getting to the end of a sandwich, the meat is misaligned with the bread. My dad always realigned the remaining bread into the center of what bread is left before the last bites. Find myself doing that all the time without even thinking about it. And swirling the last few ounces of a drink around the bottom of the glass before gulping ot down. And honesty.

 

When I was little, Dad was on a mission to teach all youngsters that we never put our elbows on the table while eating. His teaching tool? A light, but effective, rap on our elbow with the heavy end of a butter knife... We did the same thing with our kids... it's how rap got started...

 

I show

up on time. Had a boss that tried that line, let him know I wanted to be paid an hr extra each week then.

 

25 years ago my FIL told me that wood needed to be C,S&S outside at least a year before you brought it into your wood shed. Pretty good considering what most people did back then.

 

Nice thread Pete I'll have to back to this a it busy at the moment

 

My maternal grandfather was Canadian. He worked hard, harder than any other man I have known. He and his wife lived off the earth as it was. He taught me so much about nature and how to live with her. He recycled everything. My mother was the last child of nine and was born home in the living room. He, his wife and their brothers and sisters lived past 80 yrs, some lived past 100. They were all clean living folks. None of them had a heck of a lot, but they had what they needed. My Mom told me about when they were the first on the street to get an electric light. They canned about everthing. Mom said they never went hungry. I wish I was more like them when I feel the need to spend money on something that I'll be hard pressed to find a place for.

 

Good thread here. My dad turned 90 this year and Mom 85. Both still live in the house I was raised in but Dad has a hard time getting around. I laugh sometimes and say I had a drug problem when I was young, my parents drug me to church everytime the door was open. I ran from that for many years but now I love them more than anything for that. Mom rarely worked outside the house and we didn't have a lot but were never hungry. Mom could squeeze a nickel until it turned to a dime. Dad only would call a couple times when supper was ready and you better get to the table. I still remember being on the next block and not hearing Dad call but I knew I was in trouble when he showed up with the belt. By the way that never did anything but made me respect authority and yes my kids got their backside warmed as needed.

 

Amazing what a common thread is being weaved as this blog progresses. As I turn 65, I am so thankful that I have lived thru the times I did, knowing the people I have met. The new world puts me in a very uneasy feeling. The "ain't technology wonderful, lets go see who we can screw" attitude displayed by a lot of folks today certainly "ain't" for me.............just sayin.

 

I always wonder Rotti, just how difficult it would be if/when the plug is pulled for millions in this world. Too many have only known life thru the tech world, with no concept of common sense or real life experiences. Can't be a good thing.

I too am very thankful for the times I grew up in.

 

My parents taught me to be wise with money. I brought that knowledge into my marriage and it has been very helpful. When we first got married we drove old cars and everything else we had were used items people gave us ( furniture, tools, etc). We were able to put a substantial amount of money in the bank. We aren't wealthy, but we have never had financial problems. In 26 years of marriage we have never fought over money ( there are plenty of other things to fight over )

 

As they say "History is written by the victor"

I like to read history books. I find it interesting to go back to our HS history books and see how oversimplified, almost to the point of being wrong, much of the material is. In the last couple years Ive read some good books on the revolution and its amazing even how oversimplified much of what we learned about that is... and much of it is debated to this day in history circles. For example a lot of founding father quotes you see parroted on the net all the time take on a very different meaning if you go read the entire writings they came from and look at the context (prime example - the Ben Franklin 'Security and liberty' quote... was actually from a letter to the PA colonial governor in 1755 during debates over funding for British Army frontier outposts during the French and Indian wars .... long before the revolution was even an idea).

 

Excellent point. When I was a kid my Dad had a corporate job (later laid off and went into contracting) but he had always worked wit his hands as a hobby (woodworking, auto repair, electronics tinkering) - so from a young age he taught me those skills. At 6 years old I would spend my Saturdays in the garage handing him tools and parts fixing the car (with used casrs there was alsways something broke). I had to know how to operate the tractor and mow the lawn by 8 or so. When it was time to learn to drive they insisted I learn on a stick shift first. In high school I spent my summers working for his contractor business doing grunt work. etc.

My parents also sent me off to the boy scouts as soon as I was old enough for cubs and saw to it I stayed with it through high school. I learned a lot of important life skills there... Useful outdoor skills but also the things you learn about good citizenship, respect, self reliance and community involvement are great and sorely lacking in kids these days.



But wait... wasn't this originally about odd habits of our parents ? Im trying to think of habits I picked up.......

 

From Dad.......................Selective hearing.

From Mom.......................Love of outdoors.

 

I remember when I was a young boy, my dad would be laying on the garage floor, under his car which was up on ramps. He'd yell out "get me a 9/16" box end wrench" . Not knowing anything I would grab a handful of wrenches and give them to him. Not one of them would be right and he would yell at me. Good times.........

 

The old man (great grandfather) always carried a pocket knife and a Bic lighter. He did not smoke and neither do I but guess what's always in my pocket.