More thoughts on my previous post

When I actually started thinking about the lack of community building, and quite specifically ladies in the kitchen, what prompted it was the fact that so few women out there seem to know how to cook a good meal. With industrialization came convenience, with convenience came the womens' movements of the sixties and seventies, and from there, though we gained a whole slew of rights, which I would not want to give back, we also managed to lose our "womanhood". I know that what I am thinking is not anything someone else hasn't already pointed out-it's just something that I have been rather caught up with lately. In gaining the go ahead to work outside the home, to be whoever we wanted to be, we had to find ways to not totally abandon our families. Thus convenience foods came to be. Supermarts were born. We needed food, clothes, everything, NOW. So, daughters turned down mother's offers to learn how to knit, sew and bake a Sunday roast. Instead of sitting down and piecing together a beautiful love-infused quilt to cover the family bed, we pushed kids to their own rooms to sleep so we would be able to be rested enough to go to work in the morning, we run to the store to pick up a duvet cover filled with polyester made in a factory in China to throw on the bed, and toss out the clothes that have any stains or holes on them, instead of trying to mend or repurpose them. The cooking thing stuck out, though. How else would we learn? Watch FoodTV? Cookbooks? There is something very important that is lost when you cannot just be in the kitchen with someone who knows what they are doing, and that just doesn't happen enough these days. My sister in law is offended if you say something about her lack of cooking abilities. I think today's generations don't even fully understand what an actual, honest to goodness, cooked from scratch meal is. Her idea? A bag dinner, or boxed mac and cheese that she tossed some hot dogs in. It would never dawn on her to taste her food as she went along to add a seasoning, at the very least salt and pepper. And that is the norm. My kitchen is pretty constantly a mess. But just about everything we eat, we make at home, and from whole food ingredients. I admit, I go through cycles where we get lazy, but I have not, barring being too sick to cook so I called Dad to bring something home, bought a frozen pizza in over a year. We make our pizza. I freeze extra dough for rushed nights. I love cooking with other women, learning what they know. Ironically, most of what I learned was from my dad, though I spent time with my grandmother as well and gleaned some of her abilities (seen Paula Deen? That's my grandma's cooking style). And in learning from both of them have the ability to read a recipe and tell whether it will turn out well or not. I developed my own style, and I take pride in what I cook. How can you take pride in something you yanked from the freezer? And I in no way want to offend anyone who does-I don't believe it is your fault. I think once again societal pressure led us to this point. Now it is our responsibility to turn it around. What is so wrong with being a homemaker? I firmly believe it is THE most important job in the world. We are shaping tomorrow's leaders, whether they lead from home, or behind a desk, or abroad. What we instill in them has the ability to shape our own futures, and for the better. This is also why I am such a big cheerleader for homeschooling. I take my responsibilities as a wife and mother very seriously, and teaching my daughter how to work with yarn, my son how to make dinner and them both about the world is the greatest job I could ask for. Sorry about the soapbox lately, but it is time that people start being different. There are pockets of us out there all over. My dad always wanted his kids to be leaders, no matter what walk they took. He always said we should rub off on those around us, not vice versa. This is my way of *hopefully* starting to rub a little. When someone asks about me staying home, I answer with pride. My babies are important enough to be proud of the fact I choose to make them priority in everything and restart what so many families have lost-what I consider legacy.