I have used these words with boyfriends, husbands, and sons in their turn, "Work doesn't care who does it as long as it gets done!" Another of my commonly heard phrases is, "Self-sufficiency is sooooo sexy in a man!" I think that teaching your children neccessary things, regardless of their gender, is just good parenting. Sewing is a skill that everyone will need eventually. Holes occur in clothing and accessories and without that basic skill you are up the creek when it comes to repairing a favorite shirt or bag. If one does not know how to sew things properly, mending your clothing and other things will be a hit and miss at best, and an utter and complete disaster at the worst. Basic stitching, sewing basic patterns, and repairing material are all neccessary skills.
Men tend to think that the things children should be taught varies due to gender. I have even had men question why I was teaching my sons to cook, sew, and crochet. Their arguments against the teaching were fairly simple, "It's woman's work." they would say as though THIS explains everything. They would even act incredulous when I would question the wisdom of their ideals. It may not have been in vogue to teach boys cooking or sewing or homemaking akills, for the last 30 years or so, but if you do not teach them such essential personal care skills they are at the mercy of fate. If they are not taught to sew young men will not be able to mend their own clothing, socks, and sew up small projects and patterns. This means they either must find a girl to do it for them, take the item to a tailor to be professionally sewn, or throw the torn item away.
Teaching a young man to sew can be the start of something wornderful for them. Like many other hobbies and activities, if the activity is not classified or stigmatized as "woman's work" and a parent doesn't make a big deal about teachiong a boy to sew they will not thnk anything of your instructing them to master such a skill.Hand sewing items can teach children, both mail and female, the importance of paying attention to details. Sewing can also improve a persons hand-eye coordination. Sewing can also instill patience and can be a huge help for children who suffer with ADD or ADHD. If they find the activity interesting, they may discover that they can pass fairly long stretches of time, concentrating on just one thing. This will help these children in many other aspects of their lives. You should probably get a young man started sewing at an early age if you want to avoid having to break down social stigmas, and concerns about gender roles. Teaching a young man skills and hobbies which can save him money, make him more self sufficient, and thus more self confident, is never a mistake and never let anyone tell you that it is a mistake to teach them to sew;
I currently live with a man who owns professional sewing equipment and who uses all of it much better than I ever may. He has been doing leather work and leather tanning since he was 12 years old. He has also made a fairly good living from doing custom made, high quality, one of a kind leather pieces throughout his life. In fact my boyfriend has shown me a lot of new things about sewing. Machine sewing and hand stitching are very different and are used for different applications. There are numerous stiches and patterns which one may use for the purpose of ensuring that the stitching and the materials will hold together. Sewing is actually much like tying a series of knots along the inner seam of a garment. (This is the method that works best when repairing an item.) Some of the work done with a manual sewing needle are so intricate, and so beautiful that I think it would be a shame to neglect to pass this activity down to your sons as well as to your daughters. Let them figure out if they wish to use the skill or not, but teaching a survival skill or activity is never a bad thing.