What do you consider as essential life skills?

[IndependentAdjudicator]

You're now a parent.
How do you go about equipping your child to be confident in the real world?

Cooking
Cleaning
Good work ethic
Driving
Swimming
Being able to hold themselves in social situations

The ability to tackle something unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

Absolutely.
Seems lacking, and seems to be excused by so many.

I find MN to be very extreme in favour of driving. It's not necessary if you live in a city or even a big town if it's on the train line.

It really is.
I've lived in a big City all my life. I would have missed out on SO much without being able to drive.

Most people don’t live in the few big cities with decent public transport which is why driving is a necessary life skill for so many people.

Empathy!

Budgeting and assessing affordability on the total cost rather than 'the monthlies'
Being able to cook a few simple meals
Situational awareness ie not being absorbed in a mobile phone when out and about

Definitely this. Which is one I need to work on more with my oldest, she has become more and more uncomfortable with the unfamiliar.

I find swimming a bit baffling. But then I think of practically compulsory swimming lessons for all children as one of the greatest money making scams since bottled water in the developed world.

I suppose it depends where you live. If you don't live anywhere near water it's not to essential but it's probably easier to learn as a child and adults that can't swim and move to somewhere where there's a lot of water/social life features swimming can find it difficult (this was in the news in my country fairly recently, the increase in adults seeking swimming lessons because they've moved here and realised they want to learn so they can join in with lakeside cottage trips and things like that.
But if you live near water then I'd say it's pretty essential, as a precaution.

@Natsku Yes- that's why my own children learned to swim early. But for most children there are much better uses for the money, energy and time.

Resilience. Learning it’s not all about them. Managing success and disappointment/failure.

Yeah paying outrageous sums for lessons when the cost of living is so high is perhaps not the best use of money. It ought to be taught well in schools really (it's done every year in my country because it's considered so important/essential) but that takes time that schools don't have in the UK so it falls to parents and costs too much.

Understanding that others have problems you yourself do not face. Treating everyone equally.

I agree. I think swimming schools have done a great job of convincing everyone 'swimming is a life skill' when in fact it's a nice to have. Most people, even strong swimmers will struggle if unexpectedly plunged into freezing water, but it's extremely unlikely to happen. My kids can swim well enough to enjoy the sea and pool safely. They do not need to know exactly perfect technique in four strokes to do this and did not have lessons apart from a few at school.

I would say basic cooking and shopping skills so they don't waste tons of money on takeaways or ready made foods. Learning to look at price per 100g etc.

Being able to talk to strangers, including on the phone, and advocate for themselves where necessary. How to spot red flags in relationships and knowing your own worth.

Basic hygiene for themselves (eg teeth brushing etc) and for food/house.

Swimming, cycling, driving are all nice to haves but not absolutely necessary. Ironing is way down the list lol. A lot of stuff listed here comes under the heading of 'look up a how-to on youtube when needed'.

Agree on swimming with @CurlewKate and @Runnersandtoms. It’s a ‘nice to have for leisure purposes’ thing rather than an essential life skill.

Critical thinking.
Driving
Cooking
Understanding money
Delayed gratification
Swimming (or, as a minimum, how to float)

I love that a few people have said critical thinking. It's getting more important every day.

Is that really true? Cities are obviously more populated than the countryside.
A quick google gave me this:

"In 2022, the urban population of the United Kingdom was approximately 56.52 million, while the rural population was around 10.45 million. Since 1960 the urban population of the UK has grown by around 15.4 million, while the rural population has shrank by around 846,500."

I presume urban here includes towns as well as cities, but most towns have good public transport except very late at night.

I didn't say "lived in cities". I said "lived in cities with good public transport". Lots of big towns and cities don't have what I'd regard as the same standard of public transport as the biggest cities like London. Relatively few UK cities have broad tram nor underground networks.

Lots of smaller cities with absolutely crap public transport, i.e. city train stations nowhere near the bus station and on a very poor bus route etc. Then the well known crap train service around Manchester. Lots of smaller cities with no overnight bus services. Lots of places where the last train of the day is stupidly early, and all finished by 11pm, even Manchester airport where the trains stop before the last flights of the day have landed and where you can't get to the airport soon enough for the first flights of the day as they start too late!

That's what I mean by cities without good public transport - basically anywhere outside London in simplistic terms!

To interact with other human beings and to clean things up without saying it’s disgusting 😅

Good thread. I agree with nearly all of these as life skills.

Budgeting.