to think these parents are irresponsible and possibly cruel

[ShagOBite]

Inspired by a thread, which was inspired by another thread. (Don't worry MNHQ, no deletions or anything)

Why would you not teach your children to cook and clean? Surely even royalty need to know the basics? Why would you not teach such an important life skill?

AIBU to think it is irresponsible and possibly cruel?

Truthfully, I am trying to bring dd up so that she has no idea how to cook, clean, use a washing machine, change a nappy, or how to coordinate colours let alone match curtains with soft furnishings or sew on a button. She does know how to wire a plug, paint a room including gloss the wood, and mow the lawn.

Her lesson for today was lounging on the sofa asking for peeled grapes. She passed with flying colours (has had some practise).

helpyourself - at risk of huge generalisation, there is less "letting yourself go" among French women than among British women, and, yes, French women do tend to hold it all together, at least on the surface.

To give British women their due, commutes tend to be longer and houses/gardens bigger in the UK than in France, both of which use up a lot of time and energy. I grew up in a long commute/large house and garden household, and I must say that I completely won over by the short commute/smaller home lifestyle. My tolerance for long journeys to work/school and for endless toil (property maintenance) is now very low! I think our children have better weekends as a result as we are available to go out and about with them - I remember quite a lot of hanging around at home as a child because my parents needed to get on with gardening, painting etc.

I must admit that when I left home to go to university I couldn't cook or clean. I had never made a bed or turned on an iron .

I don't recall it being a major drawback and what I needed to learn as I went along...well I just did.

That said, apart from cooking, I am still not terribly domestic. I loath all cleaning and tidying with a passion and pay a housekeeper a fortune rather than do chores myself.