Raising the next generation of crafts person

As an adult, I’m often asked what my parents did that all their 6 children craft things with their hands. It’s often asked with a tone of assumption that there is a magic formula or three-step plan. It often comes from someone new to meeting our whole family, like when I hosted a gathering at the shop for all the out-of-town guests who came in for my sister’s wedding. Or it’s the parents of school students who come to the shop on a field trip.

Among the 6 of us there is a blacksmith, leather worker, woodworker, machinist, musician, and seamstress. 3 of us are in business together ( Alexanderbrothers.com) in our craft after working more typical careers, for some of us its just our “hobby” or a thing we do.

The best answer I know how to give is that my parents instilled a love for well-made things, Music, and books, and then they were simply facilitators. If any of us expressed an interest in a particular thing, they made a mission of providing an avenue for us to learn more about it. We spent at least 1 day a week at the library, so books were the first step. Then they would take us to club meetings, museums, Art exhibits, or anywhere that would help satisfy our curiosity. We were homeschooled, and my journalist mother did so from a strong belief in Child-led learning.

When I was a child and my father was asked, “How do you get your boys to be interested in making things?” his answer was, “I have to be okay with them leaving my best hammer lying out in the wet grass.”

I’m in my 30s now, the same age my father was when that was his answer, and now the wisdom in that response feels a lot more real. My parents made an intentional choice not to create barriers to entry. They intentionally made things accessible, even to the point that we ruined my father’s best tools. Because to him in the moment, the value of our curiosity was more than that of his prized hammer. He knew that pressuring us too hard on tool care too quickly would discourage us from exploring the world of making.

The other day I was walking through the dew soaked garden at 6 in the morning with my coffee and found myself in my fathers shoes. I found one of my favorite carving knives laying on the ground and that the shop door had been left ajar all night.

My little craft person is 5yrs old I continue to teach her how to safely use a knife and carving gouges (which is a constant process) but if I need to buy 5 new knives before she is 10 so be it. I’m not going to throttle her creative mind with a silly tool care regimen until shes ready for that.