Parenting Teens

When I was growing up, we had an elderly preacher live with us for 11 years. The story goes, Mama decided to pray for patience once, and God delivered by giving her an old man who’d try the patience of a saint. And he did, daily.

Grandpa S was, well, he was something. He was set in his ways, and ornery and determined, and annoying and amusing, smart and all things that older folks usually are. He would sit in his room for hours, typing on his VERY noisy old typewriter, writing devotions to submit to various publications he had been involved with since attending Seminary at Grace College waaaaaaaay back in the day. We’d dutifully proof read, and then make sure it got sent off to the right place, and back he’d go again to typetypetype on the keys.

While it wasn’t always the perfect arrangement, it did each me a tolerance for the elderly, even when they were driving me up the wall. He always had interesting stories, and as much as we swore it wouldn’t be so - we kinda missed him when he moved out. We even missed his tendency to wander out into the yard, pick dandelions, toss the yellow flower, wash the rest in the sink (And I use the term “wash” loosely. VERY loosely.) then throw them in a bowl with some Italian dressing and add it to his lunch or dinner.

I was reminded of those Dandelion Greens salads when a video came through my feed reader this morning, featuring Clara, a 93 year old grandmother, who’s grandson films her as she cooks meals she and her family used to get by in the depression. Potatoes, eggs, and other cheaper items stretched to feed a lot of people, in order to get by - valuable lessons to learn at any age, and especially now with folks recession obsessed. She tells stories as she cooks, and her grandson often focuses on her hands as she measures and stirs and hows us how to stretch our dollar - we see the slight tremble, the age spots, and remember that folks before us have survived worse - we can survive too.

So I encourage you to check out Great Depression Cooking with Clara! Who knows, you might find a recipe that you like - and that your kids will eat. We’ve done something similar to her grandson’s favorite ‘poorman’s meal’ for years at my house! Check it out:

And have the teenagers watch it too - they might learn something, even if it’s just a simple meal they can wow their future girlfriends/boyfriends with while cooking in a single pot while at college. Who doesn’t need to know something like that, right? Exactly.