For fun: What life skills do your teenagers lack?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So much for my ADHD child. Namely organization and awareness. Organization is a must in life, and awareness is a must for important things like driving. Both worry me a lot.

Again normal.

I'm an adult without ADHD and am not organized. I bet I too could go to a doctor and get some amphetamines!

You're gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interestingly, a lot of these things are no longer useful life skills, or soon won't be, or will only be in limited circumstances. I don't know how to use a mimeograph machine, either.

Dishes? Laundry, Taxes? Cooking? Yeah totally obsolete

Sorry you seem to lack the life skill of reading comprehension. "A lot" =/= All

I was (of course-- you're being obtuse) referring to things like understanding busy signals, using hand cranks on car windows, balancing checkbooks, and to a lesser extent, reading cursive and even ironing. Soon-to-be-obsolete and/or only rarely useful for most people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few months after I moved into my first apartment with a roommate, we couldn’t understand why the dryer was no longer working very well. We called the landlord to look at it. We didn’t know about the lint trap! We had both done our own laundry for years at home, but neither of us knew this. At home, it would just get cleaned by someone else soon enough that it was never noticed.

In the last town we lived in, the college-aged kids set the house on fire because the lint traps were so full (and so were the vents, apparently). They had huge loads in the dryer, smelled something burning, turned the dryer off....then shrugged and turned it back on. The house was a total between the holes cut into the roof and the zillions of gallons of water that all the fire departments from miles around contributed. We had a river running down our street and firetrucks/ambulances lined up around the block. Thankfully no one was hurt. But the house stood vacant and destroyed until eventually it was torn down.

tl;dr -- teach your kids to clean out the lint filters each and every time!!

My 16 y/o son who has his smartphone surgically attached to his hand doesn't use a virtual calendar. Because Snapchat >>>>>>>>knowing what appointments and events you have coming up. I'm throwing down with him this summer and sending him calendar invites because he HAS to step up and not ask me where he's going and what he's doing in a particular day or week.

[Anonymous]

Whoops, immediate PP -- the college kids set THEIR house on fire, several doors down from us. In case that wasn't clear from context.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't know how to use a mimeograph machine, either.

You never did this in school? Apparently, you missed out on an important childhood experience. You crank the machine with a handle on the side, then you hold the paper copies up to your nose and smell them.

What's a mimeograph machine?

Copy machine. Used until Xerox machines came along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't jump over a chain link fence.

Yes, and mine can't hotwire a car. Thank god she can jump a turnstile. Why on earth would anyone NEED to jump a chain link fence if they're following rules?

To get away from the person chasing them who ISN'T following the rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one has mentioned reading a map. What do you do when your phone is lost or out of charge and you don’t know the way?

Ah. That would necessitate my learning to read a map, too. Not happening.

That would necessitate having a map and I’m not cluttering up my car/house with crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't know how to use a mimeograph machine, either.

You never did this in school? Apparently, you missed out on an important childhood experience. You crank the machine with a handle on the side, then you hold the paper copies up to your nose and smell them.

I mean, I DID, a couple of times, but they were obsolete by the time I was in middle school, so I've forgotten how.

I had never heard of this machine before this thread. This is not a life skill any more churning butter is a life skill (in this century.)

[Anonymous]

Communicating to other adults in speaking and writing. The way my dd was emailing her teachers was the way she texts her friends. :/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My less than angelic teens have all of these life skills. I feel a little bit better today. They still make poor choices, but at least at some point they will have life skills to fall back on.

But could they read the title of this thread and answer appropriately or not at all? If so, ask them to teach you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't know how to use a mimeograph machine, either.

You never did this in school? Apparently, you missed out on an important childhood experience. You crank the machine with a handle on the side, then you hold the paper copies up to your nose and smell them.

I mean, I DID, a couple of times, but they were obsolete by the time I was in middle school, so I've forgotten how.

I had never heard of this machine before this thread. This is not a life skill any more churning butter is a life skill (in this century.)

That. Was. The. Point.

Some of the things mentioned here are no longer really "life skills," or soon won't be.

LMAO folks really are struggling with reading comprehension.

[Anonymous]

Neither of my kids (18 and 16) are particularly good at telling time on an analog clock. They can sort of do it if they have to, but they mostly don't.

[Anonymous]

Dial 9 for a outside line. Not my kids but it stumps the interns at the office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't know how to use a mimeograph machine, either.

You never did this in school? Apparently, you missed out on an important childhood experience. You crank the machine with a handle on the side, then you hold the paper copies up to your nose and smell them.

I mean, I DID, a couple of times, but they were obsolete by the time I was in middle school, so I've forgotten how.

I had never heard of this machine before this thread. This is not a life skill any more churning butter is a life skill (in this century.)

That. Was. The. Point.

Some of the things mentioned here are no longer really "life skills," or soon won't be.

LMAO folks really are struggling with reading comprehension.

They certainly are! The point of this thread is really about the differences in generations and how some things that were so basic to us are simply not so basic anymore. Such as addressing envelopes. There are other things being discussed that are still very relevant but simply “Oops! Missed that lesson!” moments, such as cleaning the lint trap.

Some of the PPs need to lighten up a bit!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My less than angelic teens have all of these life skills. I feel a little bit better today. They still make poor choices, but at least at some point they will have life skills to fall back on.

But could they read the title of this thread and answer appropriately or not at all? If so, ask them to teach you.

Who pissed in your Cheerios?