What things did you wish you had learned as a teen?

[BecomingAdultly]

I'm putting together a summer programme for teens and part of it is for them to learn skills out of the classroom. Right now I've got someone coming in to teach first aid, mindfulness, how to spot domestic abuse, presentational skills and how to budget. Anyone got any other suggestions? I'm trying to fill a week.

@SweetMoon

Thanks. Quite pleased with it myself.

I wasn't exaggerating my belief. I think the ability to make conversation with different people is one of the key benefits of 'good' schools. A step up from that is how to lead conversation.

These are key and often overlooked skills.

When you combine it with confidence instilled in 'good' schools* and the likelihood that it's pupils will have done more things, visited more places etc (meaning they'll have something in common with the other person) I think it explains the difference in career-attainment far more than grades or nepotism.

*I read a fascinating study a few years ago where self-confessed "shy" people took a pretend test before they met 2 rooms full of people. In the first room they were quiet and shy. Before going into the second room the people were told that they had scored the highest in this intelligence test and the difference in their behaviour was amazing.

Touch typing!

How to eat healthily and sensibly so you don't fall into the eat, gain, diet, starve cycle. What a "normal" diet can look like

Really good suggestions and feedback. We're going to have a real mixed bunch as we've got some from private education to those from a referral unit.

For the whole week the young people will be having to cook their main meals together so we're hoping they'll learn a lot from each other.

I really like the suggestion of them eating with other people. I think when the experts come in, I'll invite them to stay for lunch so they'll get used to speaking 1-1 with positive role models/out of their comfort zone.

I'm hoping that if we get an expert in for two hours they'll have a crash course and may inspire them to either learn more/know the basics.

I didn't think of payday loans but that's a great one, as well as most of these suggestions. Thank you!!

Changing a wheel
Checking tyre pressure and refilling
Bleeding a radiator
Changing a light bulb - the different types
Lighting a fire
Cleaning out a fire
Emptying and cleaning out a hoover
Making soup
Menu planning
Putting petrol/diesel in a car
Cleaning shoes
Ironing a shirt and trousers
Sorting washing for washing machine
Putting on a load and operating washing machine
Hanging out washing so it'll dry

These are just some of the things I teach my teens.

Self esteem. There must be workshops you can do around that and teenage years set the tone for the rest of your life.

I love this.

I wasn't taught anything much from my parents, and I wish I had something like this on offer. Agree a lot with how to be social, self esteem and focusing on mental health.

How to have fun. I was such a serious, sensible teenager.

How to change a tyre and sew a button on

I would also include: how to use a drill

Re finance, I would talk about compounding (there are some great quotes around). That concept links the pitfalls of interest with the benefits of saving/investing, as well as the benefit of saving/investing early (which is so useful to learn as a teen). Get them to play around with different numbers in online calculators, it is very eye opening.

You could call the course "How to win at Adulting"

To be confident. That teenage choices can make or break your life.

Always believed you accept your lot, got by on what you had. Posh people could see through you and would see your lower class.

As pp mentioned above the confidence and courage in your conversation. Even on anonymous site like Mumsnet I cringe as I do not always use have the correct Grammer hoping someone won't pull me up.

Lots of laws. OMG. DD had no idea it was illegal to cycle at night with no lights on her bike. She's getting all 9s in GCSEs, but no idea about basic legal stuff. I'd put domestic abuse under legal topic not relationships, btw.

I don't give a stuffed hamster about "mindfulness" .

You could fill a week with how to budget. Most adults can't do it.

Given the fact that the National Careers Service is entirely fictitious, and that local provision varies enormously but isn't adequate anywhere, I think helping teenagers to consider the range of things people do for a living and explore how & where to find out about them would be very useful. I think it would take a couple of weeks, though. All those would-be firefighters aren't going to become firefighters; there's an awful lot of other things they'd probably find enjoyable/rewarding but don't know about.

And getting them to understand that they will not make a net gain from buying scratchcards every week/day would give them a good start in life. Odds & risk are quite difficult concepts to grasp but are vital for many aspects of life.

From years working in customer service I’d say that people have very strange ideas about how banks work because no one is ever taught about it.

ie you don’t have to go into the branch you opened your account in to speak to someone about your account, your (physical) money is not kept in the vault waiting for you, it’s not the bank’s responsibility to stop you spending more money than you have in your account.

Interesting Rebel, you must be much younger than me. I worked in banking for 25 years until a decade ago and you absolutely did need to go into the branch where your account was held to do anything very much. In fact even if you wanted to cash a cheque you had to ring and ask your home branch to call the branch you wanted to go to. So people aren't stupid, just out of date.

I came on to say a pony but that's not relevant

...because I read the title as 'what things did you wish you had as a teen'

Common scams and how to spot them

Small practical things like sew a button on, take up a hem on trousers (both by hand when there isn't a machine around, putting up wall hooks or maybe shelves safely.
Basic car things - how to change a tyre, check pressure and water level. Not sure how relevant other bits would be because cars have changed so much.

Definitely the importance of credit scoring and how it affects your life, as well as how you can manage it.
What a mortgage is, and how it works.
Pensions, how they work and how your retirement is affected by it.

Basically, money stuff!

Under domestic abuse are you going to cover how to spot if they themselves may be in a bad relationship as well as spotting it in other people?

That they are absolutely as good as the next person
How to order from a menu and use a knife and fork properly
That they can do anything within their capability with the right advice and a plan
That it isn't essential to have a boyfriend and not to compromise happiness.

Not to worry about boys and relationships

How to deal with emergencies! Fires, injuries, accidents etc

Credit cards and mortgages.

How to dress for an interview.

Based on some apprentices at work, I would suggest what is an appropriate or inappropriate work conversation.

How to not talk yourself down in front of your colleagues.