Elsewhere Online: Learning to DIY
After posting the note and video about The Dangerous Book for Boys yesterday, I saw this conversation in The Greenhouse, the community site for Gardenfork.tv.
Although I too am infected with the "protect our children at all costs" mentality of today, I do try to do things with Joe that allow him to explore hte more dangerous parts of life in a monitored environment. Posts like this and the attached video make me want to do it even more. Below is an excerpt from the post. Visit The Greenhouse to read the entire post and add your own comments.
Learning to DIY
...I discovered things like how flamable terpentine really is. How small engines worked. How to dismantle a bike. What bearings were, and why you needed them. Why you don't throw an "empty" can of OFF! into a campfire. How to pull the deck off of a riding lawnmower and use is as an off rad vehicle. How to cut wood to make a fort. How to build rockets. How to fire a gun. And many more skills that I treasure now.
I can't tell you how many things I've been able to fix around my house without involving an expensive repairman because I took a tape recorder apart or sat in the basement for a couple of hours watching the furnace fire up, move hot air through the house, then shut down when I was 11....
(Continues on the web site)
I'm interested to know anyone elses thoughts on this. Here is the video:
(Via Forum - The Greenhouse.)
3 Comments:
I have seen the TED talk and found it to be quite remarkable and thought provoking. I have even seen the book you mentioned sitting on a shelf in B&N. I am wondering why that book has to be just for Boys! Why do we make it okay for Boys to do these dangerous and educational things and not make the same effort for girls. My daughter is going to grow up being able to use power tools, reconfigure a network router, play piano and perform intense mathematical calculations.my $.02
There is a book for girls by the same author, but I too don't necessarily agree with the title. I think it is appropriate for any kid.
D
doug:
1. see the ted talk regarding graphic presentation of data. then go and play with the aplet at their site.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92
gapminder.org
2. The dangerous books for boys and girls are available at Costco.
3. Maddie and I were playing with a magnifying glass in the back yard, burning leaves. You would have thought I had taught her how to construct two sub critical masses of fissionable material. And watching Fairy Odd Parents is safer?
Todd
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home