Back to basics????

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This morning's paper greeted me with a story about how families are going back to basics.  This looks good, I think - embracing the simple life.  Apparently it's not just anecdotal - actual research is showing that we're more interested in home cooked meals and riding bikes and learning to sew.

So to illustrate this news, the article opens with two little girls learning to make their own ravioli.


"Families are embracing life's simpler pleasures, writes Paul Bibby.
IT IS Thursday night at the Lewis household in Hunters Hill and the family are eating in.
Clustered around the table, Ruby, 7, and Holly, 5, are learning how to make spinach and ricotta ravioli from professional cooking instructor Patricia Phillips - painstakingly forming the parcels as parents Kim and Christopher look on."

So this is apparently us embracing the simpler things in life.  TRULY????  Instead of eating out, we're getting a 'professional cooking instructor' to show our kids to make a complicated pasta.

Just cook the bolognaise sauce people and plonk it on the plate.  The poor children will be starving by the time they've made their own pasta.

Oh, sorry, that's the doorbell.  I'm going to have to go.  Jamie Durie is at the door and he's going to show my children how to weed the garden.  It's so important to hire an expert to teach the children the basics don't you think?


http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/old-school-classics-get-the-children-jumping-to-an-exciting-new-beat-20100730-10zsm.html

Comments

Deb L said…
While having a hearty chortle at the idea that hiring someone to teach your children to make dinner is somehow a return to "the simple life", I will freely admit that at 5 pm this evening having the children entertained for 2 hours and my dinner made at the very same time would have seemed like a bargain at almost any price! However, they have gone to bed now so it doesn't seem like value for money anymore. Funny that.
July 31, 2010 at 8:20 PM
Pip said…
Oh Jenny you make me laugh!
July 31, 2010 at 8:26 PM
Pip said…
....it must have been the nanny's night off : )
July 31, 2010 at 8:27 PM
Jenny said…
Ah yes - very true Deb!
July 31, 2010 at 8:44 PM
Peter Sholl said…
I loved the last paragraph of the article which pointed out that families of disadvantaged and lower socio-economic groups didn't seem to be embracing this 'return to the simple life'. Amazing! Perhaps they can't afford a professional chef to teach the kiddies!
August 1, 2010 at 11:33 AM
Jenny said…
I do wonder if the person writing the article actually has any clue at ALL about the average Australian's family life.
August 1, 2010 at 12:29 PM
Sandra said…
I was gobsmacked when I read this article on the weekend - it is really a good concept to be embracing but to illustrate it with an example like this was bizarre.
There are however heaps of my children's friends who have never been taught to cook a basic meal, possibly because their over committed parents survive on takeaways. So perhaps the lady giving the cooking lesson is teaching the whole family, not just the kids?
August 3, 2010 at 12:56 PM
Jenny said…
That sounds more plausible doesn't it Sandra?
August 3, 2010 at 2:27 PM
Motherhugger said…
Once again, the work mothers do is devalued and thrown into doubt because it can be outsourced to a professional.

The family Paul Bibby found is not a typical, enjoying the simple pleasures, family.
August 6, 2010 at 9:37 PM
Motherhugger said…
Teaching children table manners can now be outsourced too!

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/mind-your-manners-20100811-11yu8.html?comments=11#comments
August 12, 2010 at 4:15 PM
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