Page 2 | to ask you what you haven't explicitly spelled out to your kids and realised they don't know how to do?

cremantsupernova · 2023-12-10T15:13:12+00:00

There are lots of threads on MN about what your kids need to be able to do by the time they leave home (drive/life admin/budget/cook etc) in addition to school basics. But what about the rest of it. Mine are generally kind and polite and usually remember pleases and thank yous I was with one of my DC the other day and they ran ahead through a door and let it shut in the person behind's face. And I realised that I prob haven't stopped and told them that this is what you do. Made me worry what else i haven't told them - Any other examples?

ringstrawpot · 10/12/2023 17:15

My (then 11yr old) daughter once tried to make hot chocolate by boiling milk. In a kettle. 😂

StBrides · 10/12/2023 17:15

I'd been working for about 2 years before I found out what payslips were and that I was supposed to get one each month

Sandunesandseashells · 10/12/2023 17:32

I used to drop my then teenaged son at the bus station and he travelled to the next town and alighted at what was their terminus. It was only after he was running late and I left him at the next stop that I soon learned he had no concept of a request stop when he phoned 5 minutes later, having just stood and watched the bus driver drive on by.

ticktickticktickBOOM · 10/12/2023 17:43

imnotwhoyouthinkiam · 10/12/2023 15:53

I've got a (very posh) friend who had never caught a bus. The first time he did, as a teen, he didn't realise they usually only stop along a set route, and somehow managed to direct the driver down his driveway to his front door! Not sure why the driver went along with it tbh but there we go.

Show quote history

😆

Thank you that's made me laugh today

DriveInSaturday · 10/12/2023 17:44

When I was a teacher I used to make a point of teaching good manners. But then, on one Y3 class's first visit to the local library, the librarian held the door open while they all walked in, and not one of them said thank you. When we got back to school, I told them I was mortified. "All of you always say thank you when someone holds the door open at school, yet not one of you said thank you to the librarian. She must think we have no manners."

There was a baffled silence, until one of them said, "Are you supposed to say thank you at the library? I thought it was just at school."

whyamisosensiitive · 10/12/2023 19:55

Yes I remember learning things from the brownie handbook

2mummies1baby · 10/12/2023 20:27

Not a practical one like the other examples, but I have taught multiple Year 6 children who cannot spell their own middle names.

KohlaParasaurus · 10/12/2023 20:35

I don't think any of my daughters can sew on a button properly, turn up a hem or mend a tear in fabric. It never occurred to me that I needed to teach them. Their brother is quite handy with a needle and thread, mostly self-taught.

Switchingoff · 10/12/2023 20:45

AgnesX · 10/12/2023 16:25

My nextdoor neighbours haven't taught their kids to close a door without slamming it.The eldest is heading on 18.

I'm delighted to be woken up at 3am. Not.

This. TURN THE HANDLE and don’t let go until the door is in the frame. Not push it and hope for the best!

QueSyrahSyrah · 10/12/2023 20:52

KohlaParasaurus · 10/12/2023 20:35

I don't think any of my daughters can sew on a button properly, turn up a hem or mend a tear in fabric. It never occurred to me that I needed to teach them. Their brother is quite handy with a needle and thread, mostly self-taught.

I'm staggered by the amount of full grown adults who don't know how to sew a button on. Surely if you have a needle, some thread, and eyes to look at a button that is sewn on, it's easy enough to work it out, even if it's not a neat job?

NoItsStillNighttimeDarling · 10/12/2023 20:59

Not quite in the spirit of the thread but I can never resist an opportunity to tell this story.

First baby born in our family in a very very long time and DN 19 hadn't come across one before. Shouted out in alarm at the newborn 'oh my god he's got no teeth' 😂😂😂

greenstems9 · 10/12/2023 21:01

I'm 29, married with a child, and I still feel like I really don't know how to clean. I lost my mum young and my dad was very slap dash with house work and I feel like I just never got the knack.

I do clean one room a day, but I feel like it still looks dirty after.

I sometimes wish someone could just come and show me. I've even watched youtube videos but it never looks the same.

Beamur · 10/12/2023 21:02

Also Guides - so many of them have no clue how to wash up.
My own - I didn't tell her how to buy a train ticket, or how to answer the phone.

helpfulperson · 10/12/2023 21:05

MereDintofPandiculation · 10/12/2023 17:00

I taught my DC to wait for the green man. But once they were teenagers they taught themselves to wait for the green man if a parent was crossing with a child, even if they’d normally hop from traffic island to traffic island and get across in a quarter of the time

i always think this one is so funny. Recently I was at a crossing with about 6 other people, the road was completely empty but because a 3 or 4 year old had pressed the button we all stood there and waited for the green man.

imnotwhoyouthinkiam · 10/12/2023 21:12

Flickersy · 10/12/2023 16:18

I wouldn't say we were posh, we just lived in the arse end of nowhere and there was no bus service.

My parents grew up in a city and I know my mum definitely used buses a lot because she didn't learn to drive until we were born. They just never explained them to us because we never needed it. Would have been useful though! I don't suppose it mattered in the end because obviously we learnt pretty fast!

Show quote history

Oh he is posh. Grew up in a house called Somethingorother Hall. Went to Eton type posh

QueSyrahSyrah · 10/12/2023 21:17

@greenstems9 Have you asked on the Housekeeping board about anything particular you struggle with? x

Ittastesvile · 10/12/2023 21:23

PollyannaWhittier · 10/12/2023 16:49

My lot are pretty good with fire (they get rather a lot of practice ), but I discovered while doing first aid / how to call emergency services at Brownies recently that none of the girls know their home phone number or either parent's mobile; and only three knew their address.

Show quote history

That's awful. My 3 year old can recite my phone nr, I drilled it in to them, surely it's incredibly important safety to know it?!

Ittastesvile · 10/12/2023 21:26

Beamur · 10/12/2023 21:02

Also Guides - so many of them have no clue how to wash up.
My own - I didn't tell her how to buy a train ticket, or how to answer the phone.

I was tested on how to wash up as a Brownie! I think for my House Orderly badge! Does that still exist? Had to hoover and make a cup of tea too I think. Or maybe that was Hostess!

Glasses first!

user628468523532453 · 10/12/2023 21:34

Ittastesvile · 10/12/2023 21:26

I was tested on how to wash up as a Brownie! I think for my House Orderly badge! Does that still exist? Had to hoover and make a cup of tea too I think. Or maybe that was Hostess!

Glasses first!

Show quote history

Ah ha I remember learning how to fold clothes for a brownie badge!

Davros · 10/12/2023 21:36

I didn't learn to do any cleaning or housework when I was growing up. I managed to work it out through necessity and observation. I still can't cook though which suits me fine

Terfosaurus · 10/12/2023 21:42

I've still got my Brownie handbook and possibly badge book upstairs. There's a badge book, but it might be the guides one.

BellaTheDarkOverlord · 10/12/2023 21:43

I teach my 8 year old not to drive like a bell end. I’ll be driving and pointing out to her all the twatty driving going on around me so she knows for future what not to do. We live in a city which is horrendous for driving. It’s like taking a hazard perception test whenever I leave my house!

I also teach her to look for cyclists when crossing at a pedestrian crossing even if it’s a green man. The number of cyclists who go through pedestrian crossing red lights and have nearly hit the children outside my child’s school is ridiculous.

thinkofanewusername · 10/12/2023 21:47

The first time I went to the doctor on my own I had no idea how to get my medicine with the prescription. I had to ring my dad to ask what I was supposed to do with the piece of paper the GP had given me.

rainbowxlight · 10/12/2023 21:48

BellaTheDarkOverlord · 10/12/2023 21:43

I teach my 8 year old not to drive like a bell end. I’ll be driving and pointing out to her all the twatty driving going on around me so she knows for future what not to do. We live in a city which is horrendous for driving. It’s like taking a hazard perception test whenever I leave my house!

I also teach her to look for cyclists when crossing at a pedestrian crossing even if it’s a green man. The number of cyclists who go through pedestrian crossing red lights and have nearly hit the children outside my child’s school is ridiculous.

Similarly, I am teaching my 9yo to look out for errant vehicles going through the pedestrian crossing on the green man. He was putting too much trust in the green man alone!

BellaTheDarkOverlord · 10/12/2023 21:50

rainbowxlight · 10/12/2023 21:48

Similarly, I am teaching my 9yo to look out for errant vehicles going through the pedestrian crossing on the green man. He was putting too much trust in the green man alone!

Show quote history

It’s bad isn’t it! We shouldn’t have to do that really. Last week we had the green man come up but a big truck was still coming towards us and I told dd to wait and look at the truck and make sure it fully stops before we cross. It only takes one error in judgement from a driver missing the lights and it would be disastrous.