K. Gitter

Our parents and grandparents may shake their heads every time we grab our smartphones to get turn-by-turn directions or calculate the tip. But they actually acquired useful survival skills based on the generation they were raised! When it comes to life skills, our great-grandparents have us all beat. Here are some skills our great-grandparents had 90 years ago that most of us don’t. 1. Courting (Image courtesy Library of Congress) - Ancestry.com While your parents and grandparents didn’t have the option to ask someone out on a date via text message, it’s highly likely that your great-grandparents didn’t have the option of dating at all. Until well into the 1920s, modern dating didn’t really exist. A gentleman would court a young lady by asking her or her parents for permission to call on the family. The potential couple would have a formal visit — with at least one parent chaperone present — and the man would leave a calling card. If the parents and the young lady were impressed, he’d be invited back again and that would be the start of their romance. 2. Hunting, Fishing, and Foraging Pinterest Even city dwellers in your great-grandparents’ generation had experience hunting, fishing, and foraging for food. If your great-grandparents never lived in a rural area or lived off the land, their parents probably did. Being able to kill, catch, or find your own food was considered an essential life skill no matter where one lived, especially during the Great Depression. 3. Butchering Postcard printed by V.O. Mammon Co. (Ancestry) In this age of the boneless, skinless chicken breast, it’s unusual to have to chop up a whole chicken at home, let alone a whole cow. Despite the availability of professionally butchered and packaged meats, knowing how to cut up a side of beef or butcher a rabbit from her husband’s hunting trip was an ordinary part of a housewife’s skill set in the early 20th century. This didn’t leave the men off the hook, though. After all, they were most likely the ones who would field dress any animals they killed. 4. Bartering YouTube Before the era of shopping malls and convenience stores, it was more common to trade goods and services with neighbors and shop owners. Home-canned foods, hand-made furniture, and other DIY goods were currency your great-grandparents could use in lieu of cash. Do any of you cann your own goods at home? Let us know in the comments, get the conversation going!!! 5. Haggling Elizabeth Mansfield Though it’d be futile for you to argue with the barista at Starbucks about the price of a cup of coffee, your great-grandparents were expert hagglers. B ack when corporate chains weren’t as ubiquitous, it was a lot easier to bargain with local shop owners and tradesmen. Chances are your great-grandparents bought very few things from a store anyway. 6. Darning and Mending Presbyterian Support Otago Nowadays if a sock gets a hole in it, you buy a new pair. But your great-grandparents didn’t let anything go to waste, not even a beat-up, old sock. This went for every other article of clothing as well. Darning socks and mending clothes were just par for the course. Click 'NEXT' to move onto the final page of survival skills, starting with the original email... mail. :) 7. Corresponding by mail Wide Open Country Obviously, your great-grandparents didn’t text or email. However, even though the telephone existed, it wasn’t the preferred method of staying in touch either, especially long-distance. Hand-written letters were the way they communicated with loved ones and took care of business. Especially in times of war, these letters meant everything to both the soldier going through hell, to their family back home and in a similar boat. Thank you to all who have served. 8. Making Lace Celina Anzalone, 2264 First Ave. making lace for Cappallino’s factory nearby. (Library of Congress posted on Ancestry) Tatting, the art of making lace, was a widely popular activity for young women in your great-grandparents’ generation. Elaborate lace collars, doilies, and other decorative touches were signs of sophistication. However, fashion changed and technology made lace an easy and inexpensive to buy, so their children probably didn’t pick up the skill. 9. Lighting a Fire Without Matches Bush Smarts / Survival Skills Sure, matches have been around since the 1600s. But they were dangerous and toxic — sparking wildly out of control and emitting hazardous fumes. A more controllable, nonpoisonous match wasn’t invented until 1910. So Great-grandma and Great-grandpa had to know a thing or two about lighting a fire without matches. 10. Diapering With Cloth Clothesline, Winton, Minnesota. Photograph by Russell Lee. (Library of Congress) - Ancestry.com Disposable diapers weren’t patented until 1948 and it was another decade or two before they became widely used. Until then, cloth diapers held with safety pins were where babies did their business. Great-grandma had a lot of unpleasant laundry on her hands. 11. Writing With a Fountain Pen RGBStock / Survival Skills While it’s true that your grandparents were skilled in the lost art of writing in cursive, your grandparents probably were, too. However, the invention of the ballpoint pen in the late 1930s and other advances in pen technology means that your great-grandparents were the last generation who had to refill their pens with ink. Read Full Story Right From The Source RELATED: ‘Little House On The Prairie’ Fans Will Never Forget Michael Landon’s Stand Against Racism