I'm not surprised that very few of our children are not exposed to such skills as sewing and cooking. When my oldest son was about three and I was sewing on the machine, I gave him a piece of fabric and a large threaded needle. He sat on the floor beside me and and took stitches until the fabric was "gathered" into a mass. I would just cut the thread and straighten it out and he began again. When he left for college, I included a small sewing kit and he earned a few quarters by sewing on buttons....