What are some useful life skills you wish your parents had taught you?

[Anonymous]

What are some things you wish your parents had taught you or that you're trying to teach your children?

My parents made me practice piano and study French for several hours a day, but they never told me to use soap (or made sure I had any) while showering, for instance, and they let me starve to death two small pets without seemingly noticing. They worked from home and I was an only child, so this seems incredible in retrospect.

I also wish I'd been taught to ride a bike as transportation and go camping, but those aren't necessary skills, just two things I feel intimidated by as an adult.

[Anonymous]

I wish my mom had taught me how to clean and organize. She didn't know either, but I do wish someone had.

[Anonymous]

I wish someone had to taught me to exercise in a self sufficient way. Team sports are great for a whole heap of reasons when you are young but I didn't learn how to exercise independently until my thirties because I simply didn't know how to put a plan together (and I was intimidated to try). It's been life changing.

[Anonymous]

Driving. I didn't grow up in the US

[Anonymous]

I wish my mom had taught me how important it is for me to always listen to my gut about things.
So if I felt something "off" about a person or situation, I didn't always have to have a specific reason why.
It's women's intuition.

I wish my Dad would have been a loving & caring Father to me.
I wish he would have invested more of himself in me as a parent which would have given me a solid foundation for future romantic relationships.

[Anonymous]

Driving-they were always happy to do it. So I am more nervous to drive because I have less experience.

I wish they had involved me in their financial planning as well because you have to start somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish someone had to taught me to exercise in a self sufficient way. Team sports are great for a whole heap of reasons when you are young but I didn't learn how to exercise independently until my thirties because I simply didn't know how to put a plan together (and I was intimidated to try). It's been life changing.

Yes. I never learned the importance of exercise in the context of keeping myself healthy. My dad was an immigrant for whom physical exertion was equated with the labor-class, physical jobs that he'd done as a poor teen and young adult in his home country. He immigrated to escape that, and wasn't going to go back. The idea that you'd run, or swim, or whatever, for fun and exercise, was anathema to him. I still struggle to incorporate healthy activity into my daily routine.

[Anonymous]

Basic sports competence, like the rules of games I'd encounter in PE.

Makeup and beauty stuff, like getting my brows done. I had to ask for a razor for my legs, never had makeup or a haircut, etc. My little sister finally taught me to curl my eyelashes after college; not sure who taught her. I'm in my 30s and still learning to dress well.

Budgeting (they don't). They taught me a lot about saving money, but not about a personal budget because they budget either.

I am very grateful for what they did teach me: customer service / anticipating what people need; value of volunteer work; camping and travel skills; how to chat with strangers; computer literacy for the time; sensible fear of motorcycles....

[Anonymous]

I wish I would have learned basic construction like: drywall, tile, painting, plumbing, etc. I save a ton of money doing this stuff myself, but it took me many years of trial and error to become somewhat competent. My father was a builder, but he always had me move rocks or construction materials around.

[Anonymous]

I wish they'd taught me social skills.
I wish my mother had NOT taught me to be passive-aggressive and a martyr. To unlearn that took a lot of work.
I wish they'd taught me that I was an introvert instead of always yelling at me and/or punishing me for not being outgoing, and how to work around being an introvert.

[Anonymous]

How to clean.

[Anonymous]

Sewing

[Anonymous]

how to properly put on make up.

[Anonymous]

Oil change for the car (before cars became too computerized and basic parts aren't easily available)....and what the hec I'm looking at underneath the hood.

Changing a flat tire. I've seen it done a few times, not sure I could do it though.

[Anonymous]

Can't think of any. Maybe cooking, but I don't care for it a lot.
The skills I do have however were not taught by my parents.
Learned to ride a bike on my own, to ride a horse (went to competitions as a teenager) and learned to swim on my own.
I drive well, parallel park well and can drive a stick shift. Learned 6 languages through 1-12. It was part of schooling. None of them were spoken at home and parents couldn't help me with them.
Finances? Was always counting my kopeks as a kid and got a finance degree in US.
Physical work is still valued and it has kept my parents in shape. Didn't grow up with different classes of people, so it never occurred to me that physical work might show lower class. It showed and still shows hard working people.
There's nothing they could've taught me that I miss now. I just wish I'd have an eye for style, but I don't. I can't get 2 pillows to match.