Raising our children for tomorrow

A friend said to me the other day, as we were talking about parenting, that someone had once told her, "Don't raise your children for today. Raise them for tomorrow." When you think of all the changes that have happened in the last 100 yrs, even in the span of just one generation, you can see how important this becomes - why, I remember getting our first microwave, first VCR, first Vic 20, Commodore 64, Atari, and then Nintendo, and how about cell phones, and oh, I could go on and on. So when we look at raising our children, how do we determine what qualities and skills our children will need when they are adults? Well, I'd say that a child who grows up with the ability to interact well with others, who has clear communication skills and is empathic and caring, who has demonstrated problem solving abilities, who can think independently and critically about ideas (and share their thoughts from a basis of nonviolent communication), who has a clear set of values from which to base their behaviour... I think this child is going to fare better than one who knows the standard curriculum learned in our schools. I understand this is a fairly radical idea. For example, my friend said to me, "when was the last time you wrote - I mean, actually picked up a pencil and wrote substantial quantities of anything?" And I'd have to agree, it's been a long, long time. The skills (in this regard) I use now are typing - specifically, keyboarding.

No, I'd much rather give my children a firm set of values and an ability to communicate well and think critically and problem solve. Cooperation rather than competitiveness. Am I giving my children a disadvantage by homeschooling them from this basis? Only time will tell, but obviously I believe whole-heartedly I am not.