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

[cremantsupernova]

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?

That if they notice someone is horrible they don't need to tell them

That if you're the one holding the table and someone else tries to sit there you tell them politely that the tables taken. We were in a food court type place in a shopping centre at the weekend and DH was getting the food, I was sat at the table when I had to take youngest DC to the toilet and I checked DD12 was ok to hold the table. Was quite amazed to come back to find a bloke sat next to her. Amazed by the man looking oblivious, as much as that she was just looking down at her phone, and then just shrugged her shouldesrs and looked bewildered at me when I asked her why she didn't tell him we were sitting there. It was busy but there were lots of other tables.

She's really assertive normally, and she's definitely seen me tell people this on the train as we do a lot of long distance travel. So it didn't occur to me she wouldn't know what to say in this situation.

When they became adults we realised that we hadn’t given our DC a drive to earn money. Yes they wanted enough to be able to support themselves but they both walked away from well paid jobs in publishing as ‘no one would miss the books they publish’. One went on to be a Primary School teacher and the other works for a charity. Both worthwhile but not highly rewarding. What we had given them was the self confidence do to what interested them and to care about society. DiL , on the other hand, knew she wanted to earn mega bucks and planned her university course and career accordingly.

When I was home alone aged 13, my DM discovered she'd never taught me how to use a wet tea towel to put out a saucepan fire!!
I knew not to put water on it, but not what to do instead, so I threw it out the back door, burning myself in the process. Please teach your DC that one!!

I also had to teach myself how to use a train (and the tube, came on here for advice for that one!) in my 30s when I went away with work. Then I had to teach colleagues how to - there's no trains where we live, no one who grew up local had used one!

What you need to consider in detail before buying a pet. I wish a few more children had been taught this so the current crop of adults were not so clueless. Dogs specifically.

My daughter made me some delicious porridge, with cold milk.

Agree with this. We had a cat when I was a kid but it wasn't until I had one myself as an Adult that I learned about annual vaccinations / flea treatments / worming / pet insurance etc.

Either none of this was being done to my childhood pet, or I wasn't made aware of it (I know which one is more likely )

I was once told by someone in a shop to set my iPad/tablet password as my. Mobile number.... Trust me they learn that pretty quickly! Genius

What was her reaction when you told her?

I had a proud moment a while back when I overheard ds2(then 18) telling one of his male friends that they mustn't walk directly behind a young woman at night, but should cross over in case the woman feels unsafe.

I've always taught ds's that although they are wonderful human beings, they are great big strapping 6'3" things and women can feel very unsafe in the dark if they hear 'male' footsteps behind them, so the kindest thing to do is cross over/give them lots of space. So to hear ds2 pass this on to his friend was lovely. All ds's should be taught this, sadly...

On a slightly more humourous note, DS1 (who is 22!) OH told me he didn't know the sanitary towel wings stuck to your knickers...so yes, he thought we stuck them to our bodies.

Not something he needs to know but ffs, I made damn sure to produce boys with zero issues around periods & hoped none of them would end up with a meme worthy misunderstanding 🤦🏼‍♀️

When I take kids for their library session in school (English teacher) I politely request that they line up in silence before we leave; take turns holding the doors for the whole class (then joining the end of the queue) as we make our way through the school, and send one in to ask the librarian if it's convenient to come in. If they've never been taught by me before they look at me as if I have horns. They soon learn.

The younger teachers also look at me as if I'm from a novel myself (I'm no Jean Brodie 😅), but I have no discipline issues in class funnily enough.

How to cut up a watermelon. I watched my DS17 absolutely hack half a watermelon the other day. He then asked me how to cut a mango, and I jumped in to help with an avocado yesterday, lest we repeat Watermelongate.

It's a bit weird that a grown man would sit next to a 12 year girl who is by herself especially if there are other tables available.

Did you tell him off the first time ?

Anyone else sat here making a list for their kids right now 😂

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

I'm always astonished how few people have ever been taught/realised how to use a (traditional) car handbrake properly.

You either press the button in and then easily and silently pull up the brake with little resistance; or otherwise don't bother to press the button in and have to yank it up with a horrendous noise that sounds like a cat being strangled. Why would at least 95% of drivers opt for the latter every single time?

This thread is fascinating. Mine had the bot knowing how to address an envelope or where to put the stamp thing too.

When DS was getting on the bus to go to secondary school, talked through the process - he had been on buses before but not by himself. However, we didn't think to explain that on the way home, the bus would be on the other side of the road so the view would be different. He missed his stop and DH had to run down the road after the bus yelling at him to get off

Our dishwasher broke and I caught myself lining up all the washing up in the correct order of glasses to dirty pans so glass goes into the clean water. Definitely how I was taught growing up but years of dishwashers means I have never shown my own children

not knowing....no bots were involved

I confess I did similar when I was a teen. I used to get the train to school, but was staying with my Nan for the week while my parents went away for a break, so had to get the bus.

I missed my stop near my Nan's as I had assumed that as I'd told the bus driver where I was going as I bought my ticket, he'd remember and stop! Thankfully the next stop along wasn't too far! 😂

No idea why I didn't think I needed to press the button. I'd been on buses loads of times with my Nan, but clearly just hadn't paid attention!

The road safety one is vital. I make a point of waiting for the green man if there are young children waiting to cross with a parent, even if I could have easily made it.
I also wait until traffic has stopped and taught the DCs to do the same as I have nearly been knocked down twice when crossing the road on a marked crossing when the light was green for me and red for road users and both times I was over half way across. A boy at our school was killed on another crossing by a driver who wasn't paying attention to their lights having changed.

Sorry off topic, but I this reminds me of my teens, we moved to a sunny island in the Indian ocean: to get off the bus you have to clap your hands to tell the driver! Most buses don't have the stop button, and if they do they don't tend to work/are ignored.

It was hilarious to see the tourists panicking, not knowing how to get off the bus 😂

There's a very old story about Winston Churchill's Cabinet during World War 2. Churchill decreed that since there was a petrol shortage, members of Parliament and especially Cabinet members should not use taxis, and instead use public transport whenever possible. One old Tory peer is supposed to have waited for a bus, boarded it, and when the conductor got to him, gave him a big handful of silver (coins) and said '27 Cadogan Square please'.

Growing up, our local bus was a "hail and ride" I think it was called.. no bus stops as such you just stuck your hand out wherever you want it to stop, then to get off you rang the bell 100m or so beforehand then just told the driver where to stop.