So much of the journey through midlife seems to involve reviewing the things that we did, and the experiences we had, to find out more about who we were, and who we are now. It seems easier to look back with compassion on our younger self from this distance, and also to handle emotions that were present as they are that much more remote now. It worries me that I am spending so much time reviewing my past, but am also aware of the adage about those who ignore history being doomed to repeat it, so console myself with the thought that I’m actually saving myself from repeating mistakes!
While I was in this mindset I came across an article in the UK newspaper, The Independent, which interviewed a number of women who had been Girl Guides in their youth. The majority of interviewees recalled pleasant memories of things they had learned, the other girls they shared the journey with, and felt that the experience had shaped them positively. The skills they learned certainly resonate with my brief experience as a Girl Scout and trying to learn to tie knots! In the US the Girl Scouts have similarly helped young women to learn skills that they may not otherwise have learned, and exposed them to new possibilities.
Ironically for someone whose parents met as co-boy scout troop leaders, and for whom scouting principles were a strong part of their child-rearing ethos, I was only a Girl Guide for about a year. My troop wasn’t very active in contrast to what my brothers were doing in scouts, so I was lured away to a parallel organization called ‘Pilots’. I have fond memories of learning how to splint and bandage, pep talks about being kind and considerate to other people, sewing and mending lessons, chats about good nutrition, and boisterous games that involved running around the perimeter of the building at breakneck speed. Of these, the lessons on mending have been used on many occasions across the intervening years, and I thank the woman who took the time to teach me these skills – even though her name is long lost to me.
Outside organized groups such as this, the main place of learning for most children is during their time at school. I particularly recall a maths class where a girl was complaining that what we were learning was completely irrelevant to ‘real life’. The teacher rounded on her and pointed out that many ‘real life’ acts, such as dividing a pizza or pie, or ordering carpet or flooring require the skills we had been, and were being, taught. She dismissed this explanation with the shoulder shrug of distain only teenagers can carry off authentically. Her challenge remains with me, and has recurred periodically as I’ve noticed things I learned in school that have actually proved useful to me in ‘real’ life.
Among my list of findings is my love of reading and knowing how to understand more fully what the author intended. Often useful is my ability to understand how languages are constructed, and on good days the ability to be able to read, understand and speak French. Not surprisingly the home economics classes with the fundamentals of cooking, baking and running a home have often been used, and biology classes have provided me with many answers to crossword clues! Music classes taught me that hard work and practice do pay off, and that group music making can provide both the greatest highs and deepest lows of experience – depending on how the quality of the teacher.
My somewhat hippie junior school first taught me that creating music is accessible to everyone – under the right tutelage, and that music making can be accomplished and enjoyed at many levels. I’ve yet to find a good application for the knowledge that numbers can be represented by colours, but it was a liberating system for a right brained math phobe. It was never clear to me why numbers had colors, or what I should do with that knowledge, but can still add in colour when needed! (The system was called ‘Colour Factor‘ and is explained in the article if you click through.) I also learned how beautiful hand lettering can be when I was taught ’italic’ handwriting, and to create decorative borders around my free-style poetry and prose, which I feel started my path towards graphic design many years later!
I’ve told you my stories, but what did you learn as a child that you have used as an adult?
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i use a combo of shea butter and aloe vera moisturizer. Works great. I use shea butter on my lips, around my eyes and nose (dry areas), My father swears by vasoline.
p.s. I dropped your name on Gina's post, Barb. ;)
When my father was in his 40s he took courses on becoming an optician. As someone who had not done advanced education in his youth this was quite a struggle. One of the areas of the study involved advanced geometry. As a technician making glasses he used it every day, but had quite a difficulty to put it into equations on paper.
As a young lady I was in the CGIT (Canadian Girls in Training) and fond the same lessons mentioned in your article. A lot of what we learned had to do with home making but the comraderie was wonderful. I fondly remember the games as well. Sometimes our self esteem is formed in such groups.
God bless, J