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I would actually like to see more of an emphasis by parents on teaching girls in particular how to do basic maintenance, check the oil in the car, things like that, as well to me ex'sas simple household things. I myself went right from my parents to a friends to a boyfriends to my grandmothers, and didn't live on my own until I was almost 40; I didn't even know how to hang a picture. As a therapist, I've had widows as patient's who have fallen apart since their husband's died and don't even know how to balance the checkbook because the husband took care of everything.
Of course I think people should know that stuff by adulthood. I do question if there's a list where if you don't know something on it, that means your parents were failures and you are "incomplete". The skills in bold are easily learned.
Its not about a list of things or being incomplete its the fact that we are seeing high school and college graduates that cant seem to function as independent adults and apparently now there is a need for classes to teach basic life skills that should have been picked up during the journey from child to adult but wasn't.
My opinion is that it is a parents job to prepare our kids for adulthood and that involves letting them do for themselves even if they fall. I agree with Marlow that too often parents want to do everything for their children instead of letting them figure things out for themselves and that is why they don't know how to mail a letter or do laundry or sew on a button or follow a recipe, shop for health insurance, make a doctors appointment, etc.
I know I have been guilty of that myself.
Its not about a list of things or being incomplete its the fact that we are seeing high school and college graduates that cant seem to function as independent adults and apparently now there is a need for classes to teach basic life skills that should have been picked up during the journey from child to adult but wasn't.
My opinion is that it is a parents job to prepare our kids for adulthood and that involves letting them do for themselves even if they fall. I agree with Marlow that too often parents want to do everything for their children instead of letting them figure things out for themselves and that is why they don't know how to mail a letter or do laundry or sew on a button or follow a recipe, shop for health insurance, make a doctors appointment, etc.
I know I have been guilty of that myself.
Exactly. I don't think it's all a new thing, either. My grandmother sewed all my buttons on for me, hemmed my clothes, etc. I was happy to have her do it and never wanted to learn as long as someone was willing to do it for me. Now at 55 if I try to sew it comes out looking like I did it while wearing mittens or something.
Exactly. I don't think it's all a new thing, either. My grandmother sewed all my buttons on for me, hemmed my clothes, etc. I was happy to have her do it and never wanted to learn as long as someone was willing to do it for me. Now at 55 if I try to sew it comes out looking like I did it while wearing mittens or something.
I agree. I think every generation has experienced this and with each generation we generally are passed less knowledge by our parents and become less capable of independence at a later age.
I am guilty of ironing my gsons shirts while I should be teaching him to iron.
I agree. I think every generation has experienced this and with each generation we generally are passed less knowledge by our parents and become less capable of independence at a later age.
I am guilty of ironing my gsons shirts while I should be teaching him to iron.
But instead of learning to iron, those kids are learning how to do social media marketing or build computers. And they might teach their parents. It's not that the kids are not learning things... they're just learning things relevant to what they need to know. If my teens needed to learn how to iron and I wasn't around to show them, they'd just watch a YouTube video. Information is literally at our fingertips and our kids have grown up with it, so they know how to access it all.
I would actually like to see more of an emphasis by parents on teaching girls in particular how to do basic maintenance, check the oil in the car, things like that, as well to me ex'sas simple household things. I myself went right from my parents to a friends to a boyfriends to my grandmothers, and didn't live on my own until I was almost 40; I didn't even know how to hang a picture. As a therapist, I've had widows as patient's who have fallen apart since their husband's died and don't even know how to balance the checkbook because the husband took care of everything.
I've never done that once in my life. I've got two graduate degrees, raised four kids, have three currently in college, and am as high as I can go in my career, earn in the top 4% nationally and have no debt. I came to this country 25 years ago with around $1k.
What the heck is balancing a checkbook? Not that I even have a checkbook - who does nowadays.
Its not about a list of things or being incomplete its the fact that we are seeing high school and college graduates that cant seem to function as independent adults and apparently now there is a need for classes to teach basic life skills that should have been picked up during the journey from child to adult but wasn't.
My opinion is that it is a parents job to prepare our kids for adulthood and that involves letting them do for themselves even if they fall. I agree with Marlow that too often parents want to do everything for their children instead of letting them figure things out for themselves and that is why they don't know how to mail a letter or do laundry or sew on a button or follow a recipe, shop for health insurance, make a doctors appointment, etc.
I know I have been guilty of that myself.
Who's this "we"? I don't see that. I have two kids, several nieces and nephews, plus I see my kids' friends and my friends' kids (and even their friends) managing to live very functional lives as young adults. I don't know what the issue is.
None of my siblings, friends nor I did the bold, and I do not know one YA who can't do at least most of those things. A good friend of mine said her oldest called them to ask questions about insurance when he got his first job; the next one made all the decisions himself. My kids mostly made their own decisions. I can't remember them specifically asking me any questions about insurance, 401Ks, etc.
I've never done that once in my life. I've got two graduate degrees, raised four kids, have three currently in college, and am as high as I can go in my career, earn in the top 4% nationally and have no debt. I came to this country 25 years ago with around $1k.
What the heck is balancing a checkbook? Not that I even have a checkbook - who does nowadays.
I pay almost all my bills online, but I still carry a check register....when I buy something using my debit card I deduct that purchase from my balance. If I have $3,000 in my checking account and pay a $400 bill online, I deduct it from my balance and write the new total. That is balancing a checkbook, in a nutshell. Simply keeping written record of how much is in the account and how much is left after paying a bill. I didn't realize it has became irrelevant to keep records.
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