Thread: WHO HAS CLEVER GRAND KIDS.

Should get the Lego / Jigsaw boy in the shed working on a Landrover . Dad got sick of me adjusting the screws on the Lawnmower carby when I was 8 so bought some old toe cutter lawnmowers home from the tip for me to play with, built one out of two and started mowing the lawn with it. Thats where it started for me. not much of a quantum leap from mowers to Landys.

Unfortunately I only have grand daughters, not a tomboy amongst them either . I did have one welding when she was 6 but has no recollection of it. Nothing for disdain of old vehicles and think Im nuts. Maybe they are the clever ones after all.

every doting grandparent has clever grandchildren

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

every doting grandparent has clever grandchildren

Maybe. But one of my Sons is a ****ing moron at the moment. (The other is working towards being a Professor so he gets a pass)

The Grandkid is only 2 so there’s still hope for him.

My 8 and 10 year old granddaughters are certainly a lot more clever than I was. They can both do the backstroke quite efficiently. Every time I tried it, I thought I was going to drown.

However, I don't buy the oft repeated claim that kids today are so much cleverer than their parents or grandparents were.

The reason we have been fooled into thinking that is the case is that because of the world they are growing up in, they have different skills, like being able to set the time on the microwave or set the VCR (remember them?) to record a TV program.

Kids get opportunities almost every day to demonstrate that they can do things we oldies haven't learned to do. However, because the world has changed, we oldies rarely get the chance to demonstrate the skills that we have that would be completely foreign to youngsters.

I will believe that modern kids are clever when I see one who can do the fantastic knitting, crochet and tatting that my mother did from the time she was at school until the time she was in her nineties. My mother may not have been able to read computer code, but I bet there are few kids who can follow a knitting pattern.

I will believe that modern kids are clever when I see one who can sharpen a scythe as well as my grandfather used to.

I will believe that modern kids are clever when I see that a lot of them can navigate the way sailors did in the time of Captain Cook or William Bligh.

Actually, I know they are often clever, but I don't agree that they are cleverer than earlier generations. It is just that they get opportunities to demonstrate their cleverness, but because the world has moved on, their parents and grandparents rarely get the chance to show off their cleverness.

I'm sure your grandchildren are clever, but so are you. You just don't have as many chances to show off your skills.

Originally Posted by vnx205

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I will believe that modern kids are clever when I see one who can do the fantastic knitting, crochet and tatting that my mother did from the time she was at school until the time she was in her nineties. My mother may not have been able to read computer code, but I bet there are few kids who can follow a knitting pattern.

Your mother was reading code. Indeed punched card code was designed for weaving looms long before computers existed.
Here is an example of a knitting pattern: "* K5, (p1, k1) twice, p1; repeat from * to end of row"
It's code! It means ... after you knit 5, you purl 1/knit 1 two times, followed by another purl 1, and then you repeat this entire sequence across the entire row.

So your mother can tell her grand kids that she was reading and probably writing code before computers! That will confuse them :-)

Here are some references:
How to Read Knitting Stitch Patterns: A Knitter's Guide and Knitting pattern at Wikipedia and Knitting abbreviations at Wikipedia

How many under 30s know what a Refidex/Melways/London A-Z is, let alone how to read one.

There is some evidence that average intelligence has been rising, probably due to improved childhood nutrition, but this is so slow as to be unlikely to be visible betweeen one or even two generations. And also begs the question as to what is 'intelligence', and how do you measure it.

Most examples quoted to show that the this is happening simply show that children today are developing skills that did not exist a generation ago. This has been happening forever, as new technology and practices appear. For example, consider the children who were the first in their family to learn to read and write. Does this make them more intelligent than their parents?

Originally Posted by JDNSW

There is some evidence that average intelligence has been rising, probably due to improved childhood nutrition, but this is so slow as to be unlikely to be visible betweeen one or even two generations. And also begs the question as to what is 'intelligence', and how do you measure it.

Most examples quoted to show that the this is happening simply show that children today are developing skills that did not exist a generation ago. This has been happening forever, as new technology and practices appear. For example, consider the children who were the first in their family to learn to read and write. Does this make them more intelligent than their parents?

Certainly some changes going on. Computers seem to be improving eye-hand co-ordination, for example.
An iPad and an art program with some tools helped our oldest grand daughter with her art skills.