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31 January 2017

Passing on skills to their grandchildren

Table manners, riding a bike and sewing on a button are life skills that grandparents say they must pass down to their grandchildren.

According to a poll of 2,000 British adults aged 60 and above, 82 percent said it was better being a child 50 years ago, than it is now.

  • Nearly nine in ten (88 percent) said children were much better at making their own entertainment years ago.
  • Three quarters said they learned far more practical skills ‘back in their day’.
  • 79 percent said they passed on their wealth of knowledge to their grandchildren.

Teaching table manners, knitting and making bread were among some of the skills Granny and Grandad share. As were skimming stones, making toys from wood and planting seeds.A quarter of all grandparents have taught their children’s children to sew on a button and how to polish a pair of shoes.

Eight in ten of those polled were in agreement that young people had a lot to learn from the older generation and 62 percent said part of being a grandparent was passing on your skills. Nearly three in ten (28 percent) said their own grandparents taught them invaluable life skills so they want to recreate that with their own grandsons and granddaughters.

Top 10 skills grandparents pass on

  1. 1. Good table manners
  2. 2. Card games
  3. 3. Jigsaw puzzle
  4. 4. Riding a bike
  5. 5. How to plant a seed
  6. 6. Swimming
  7. 7. Skimming a stone
  8. 8. Identifying plants and flowers
  9. 9. The proper way to lay a table
  10. 10. Identifying birds