One of the major complaints that parents have about school is that it doesn’t teach kids lifeskills, at best, there might be some elective courses for fun, but outside of that, there’s not much in terms of learning things people need in real life. But as a parent, as you know, growing up is weird, because adulthood doesn’t show up like, “Congratulations, here’s the handbook and your starter kit.” It doesn’t do that for anyone.
Sure, as a parent, it’s nice that you can help your kid with higher education because at least in university there’s that transitional period from kid to adult. But even then, they still need some life skills. But what exactly?
It’s Finally Time for Money Skills
Money stress often isn’t because someone’s bad with money. It’s because nobody ever taught the basics, and then life gets expensive. Well, with inflation now, it’s apparently only going to get more expensive. The basics are simple, even if they’re not glamorous. Like, you need to know what comes in, know what goes out, and set aside money for the boring stuff before spending happens.
And yes, this includes those tiny recurring charges that don’t look like much but add up (like Klarna and Buy Now Pay Later schemes seriously need to be taught to kids and young adults).
How to Make Appointments
Yes, even Gen Z and Millennials are just as guilty of this, too. But calling to book something shouldn’t feel scary, but for a lot of teens, it does. Well, for anyone under 40 nowadays, it seems like this big and scary thing. And honestly, it’s because they’ve never had to do it. They’ve had things arranged for them, which is normal, but then it’s like all of f a sudden here, they’re expected to call a doctor’s office and not freeze up, right?
Sure, sometimes you can do things online, sometimes, even a simple text, but it’s not always like that. Some businesses still stick to the old-fashioned way But this skill is basically learning how to speak clearly and ask simple questions. Like name, what’s needed, when the appointment can be, what to bring, and what it costs. Yep, really, that’s it. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to happen. Just let them watch you; that at least should make it easier if they’re watching you make your own appointment.
Everyone Needs to Know How to Cook
Cooking doesn’t have to be impressive. It needs to be functional, like, “can feed a person without a meltdown” functional. No, it shouldn’t just be mixed macaroni and cheese, fried eggs and toast, and ramen, like it needs to be real meals because you can’t eat the same things forever. So, every adult should have a few basic meals they can make without thinking too hard.
Like pasta with pesto is easy, stir-fry, tacos, other egg meals like an omelette, a soup, a rice bowl, something that can be thrown together when the day is long, and nobody wants a project.
Yes, You Need to Know How to Drive
Some people live in walkable cities, and honestly, that’s great. But life changes. Jobs change. Emergencies happen. Travel happens. Family needs change. A person might not need a car every day, but knowing how to drive is still useful. Well, you get the idea, anything could happen to where you might actually be in some sort of situation where you may need to drive.
But driving also teaches awareness and calm decision-making. It’s one of those skills that feels intimidating until it’s learned, then it becomes normal. And yeah, even if someone swears they’ll never need to drive, it’s still worth having a license and passing this driving test, so the skill exists before it’s urgently needed in a stressful moment.
Basic Paperwork Skills
But even kids have been in situations where they needed to do paperwork, so what gives? Well, paperwork is where so many adults go into avoidance mode. It’s not knowing how, and it’s more about being intimidated by mail, forms, bills, contracts, insurance stuff, and rental agreements. It’s not fun. But it’s clearly also not optional either, as you can see. Obviously, kids don’t need to master it. But they should learn how to read something carefully before signing it, understand due dates and late fees, and know that ignoring mail isn’t a strategy, even if the brain tries to pretend it is.
Actually, if you think about it like this, it also helps to teach a simple system. Important documents go in one place. Like, think about it, digital copies get saved. If something looks serious, it gets handled early. That’s it, it’s just about being functional and smart, as clear as that.
Online Safety
Sure, most kids are already taught this, but now, they need to have a more adult conversation. There’s deepfakes now, there’s AI, and scams are getting way smarter. As you know, adults still meet up with people online (like online dating), and it’s not always meeting in a safe area either. This also includes social media boundaries. Not everything needs to be posted. Not every message needs a reply. Not every comment deserves a response. That’s safety, but it’s also just protecting peace.
It’s Time for Some Basic Home Skills
Not just cooking, but other stuff too. Like, it’s time to finally know how to reset a breaker, shut off the water in an emergency, change a lightbulb, unclog a drain, and use basic tools, like a hammer and screwdriver, matters. It’s not about being handy, well, granted that does help too. The same goes for laundry, too, like that’s seriously a big part of all of this because laundry mistakes are basically a rite of passage.
But it helps if kids at least know the basics, like don’t wash everything on hot, don’t mix colors that bleed, and not everything goes in the dryer. Well, you could probably say the same for just cleaning in general, actually cleaning, not shoving stuff everywhere and calling it done.
Leave a Reply