Why it’s important to teach your kid sewing + extra tips for yourself

As my kids are growing, I suddenly realized that the importance of basic crafts and skills was lost in time. No more - I said to myself, ans as my wife is teaching our kids how to sew, I decided to leave here some food for your thoughts. Why it's so important to teach your kid sewing why it's much easier to press button one and order clothes from web? Sewing is a valuable life skill that will stand anyone well who takes the time to learn the craft as they live and grow through their adult life. Not only is the ability to sew a useful trait, but sewing can be an entertaining hobby as well help develop and improve physical and mental cognitive capabilities (https://www.nicabm.com/brain-creativity-and-cognitive-function/). Teaching children life skills that will aid them time and again in their later years can include sewing, cooking, preparing a household budget and even learning to change the tire on a car. That’s why it is important to teach children at a young age and help and encourage them to nurture their talents and new found skills.

Benefits of sewing

Sewing has many benefits beyond performing simple clothing and material repairs such as replacing a button on a shirt or stitching a hem; sewing can help develop hand-eye co-ordination and finger dexterity and increase motor skills. As a past-time sewing can also provide a creative outlet as well as an opportunity to learn social skills which can help nurture their self-confidence. Sewing can also be educational, helping to develop maths skills and problem solving; how much thread and material is needed to create a project for example is one such instance.

Mending clothes

Children get into all sorts of scrapes in their formative years, putting holes in trousers’ knees, breaking zips and popping buttons are common incidents that the parent will often be sought to repair. But teaching kids to mend their own clothes can stand them well in later life; from simple stitches children can be taught the correct way to patch up holes, repair seams and hems and replace buttons and zips on a variety of clothing items. Doing so might even spark ideas of being a fashion designer, and it isn’t uncommon for those who are skilled in the arts of sewing to begin to design and create their own clothes which can save money in the long run as older clothes and those that perhaps have become too small can be altered or repurposed, prolonging their longevity.

Problem solving

It isn’t enough to simply pick up some material and thread and begin stitching in the hope that an idea comes to fruition; the art of sewing demands some pre-planning and preparation to work out the amount of materials and types required as well as the length and thickness of threads and needles to be used to best get the job done. Learning the sewing process can teach children about how to successfully pre-plan, helping to avoid frustration down the line if things go awry and don’t work out.

Sewing as a hobby

Sewing shouldn’t be seen solely as a useful chore, but as a skill that that can develop into a hobby that can enhance the creativity of the child. Cross-stitching for example is a popular hobby that combines creativity with the art of sewing to create a wonderful decorative picture from an array of brightly-colored threads and can help develop arithmetic skills as it involves counting stitches on the aida to build the picture. Plus, it takes patience to learn how to sew and indulging in cross-stitch projects certainly isn’t for those who might lack in the patience department. However, sewing can teach patience and as the picture begins to develop they’ll spend longer and longer each session in helping the picture to grow. It can also instill the ability to follow instructions in the knowledge that if they get it wrong then the picture won’t come out as hoped.

Practical sewing

In the current times of coronavirus when we’re all expected to wear face coverings to protect ourselves and those around us whenever we are out and about or in the presence of others where social distancing isn’t always possible, getting children involved in the creation of face coverings is a practical and fun way of getting children involved in learning how to sew. Children can help in the design of the mask, perhaps using old t-shirts with motifs on them or brightly-colored materials sourced from a craft shop and they can help - with adult supervision - to cut the material to the requisite shape and provide input into how the mask will be put together with elastic or other materials used to make the loops which fit around the ear. Making their own masks also helps to instill a sense of responsibility while also helping the pocket as home-made masks can be washed and reused time and again which will cut down on the costs associated with buying disposable masks which could at any time become in short supply. With a home-made mask however, there needn’t be any incidence where a mask won’t be available. As you can see there’s several benefits to teaching children the art of sewing. From learning to stitch by hand through to the use of a sewing machine, sewing is an invaluable skill that everyone should know. Of course, sewing machines might prove daunting to adults as well as children, especially if exposure to machines has been limited or non-existent. Sewing machines can take some of the toil of sewing out of the equation and whether a novice or practiced hand there are sewing machines suitable for beginners through to those designed to be used by more experienced operators. If new to sewing machines, why not learn together with your children and take your sewing to the next level? It’s never too late to learn after all and here’s a few useful resources to help get children interested in learning the art of sewing. http://info.thinkfun.com/stem-education/5-reason-why-children-should-learn-to-sew#:~:text=2.,they%20can%20obtain%20from%20sewing. https://www.thehandworkstudio.com/blog/how-to-locate-sewing-classes-for-kids https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/blog/it-still-important-teach-children-sew/