Realised this year how much my 19 year old just doesn't know

[davidssdt]

Bit of a random one. My eldest is 19 and it's only this year I've properly clocked how much genuinely useful "adult life" stuff just never gets covered in school - not because teachers don't try, but probably more that there's never actually time carved out for it.
I had to sit down and explain what a mortgage actually is and why an unpaid phone bill can damage your credit file for years, because none of that had ever come up in school. Also had the apprenticeship vs uni conversation recently and realised there's no real structured way for them to weigh that up - it's basically left to them and whoever they last spoke to.
So for full disclosure, I'm actually building something around this (a curriculum site for 16-25s) but not naming it here as I don't want this to read as a plug. I'm genuinely just curious what other parents experience has been around this. What's the thing your teenager had absolutely no clue about until they had to learn the hard way?

Fourteen....

I agree that's core to parenting, and we've done plenty of that too. Where it gets harder is a lot of this changes constantly, renting law had a full overhaul this year, so even parents doing a good job can end up passing on outdated info without realising. Here's what I'm building if useful: www.stuffschooldidntteach.com

I saw you mention info tailored to individual circumstances. That sounds to me like ‘giving financial advice’, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in England. I trust you’re qualified and registered?

Sounds like you're doing a brilliant job there. Not every parent has the time, confidence or up to date knowledge to do the same though, and things like ISA rules change year to year. This is more for families where it isn't already happening. Here's what I'm building if useful: www.stuffschooldidntteach.com

Lloyds Academy etc individually is they're not built as one structured thing, no quiz, no progress tracking

lloyds academy is literally structured with quizzes included

Schools are there to cover academics. It's your job to teach your child about life. You shouldn't need a curriculum or a website to have conversations with your child.

I don't think there is much capacity in schools to cover more than what they already do. Plus my dd did cover a lot of this stuff in PSHE anyway. The reality is that a lot of teenagers aren't really interested in how mortgages work etc because it just doesn't feel that relevant to them at their particular life stage.

I think the kind of stuff that you're talking about is better dealt with more organically by parents as things come up. My dd is 21 and very clued up because we've talked to her about stuff a lot over the years, involved her in stuff etc.

I get that some parents don't really think about their own responsibilities with regard to education, and maybe there is scope for an app or something for young people to be able to look this stuff up. But I don't think a structured "curriculum" is really the best way for kids to get their heads around all this stuff. It's just theory until they actually need to think about the reality of what it means for them personally. So much depends on the relationship between parents and children at that point... how much help and guidance do they get as they go along.

Daughter, not son but fair points, though influencer finance content varies wildly in quality, some genuinely good, plenty confidently wrong, and there's no way for a teenager to tell the difference yet. GCSE finance and Young Enterprise are great where schools offer them, but they're optional, not something every kid gets access to. On timing, agree there's no need to know mortgage application detail years early, that's actually the idea, aimed at catching the moment it becomes relevant rather than front loading it. Here's what I'm building if useful: www.stuffschooldidntteach.com

I had 2 very intelligent DC. We didn't specifically set out to teach them stuff about compound interest, mortgages etc but we talked about it. Both of them are now very savvy about money. I had absolutely no expectations that school would teach them that stuff.
Teachers are trained and skilled in their specialist subject. What do you think they would train for? Life shit?

Well, I believe part of my job as a parent is to actually prepare her for adult life, which is exactly why I noticed the gaps in the first place. Assuming that's an either/or with something like this is the bit that doesn't add up to me. Expecting all parents to have a checklist you tick off and expecting it to cover everything from tenancy law to pension auto enrolment single handed is a bit of a fantasy in my opinion. That's the actual gap I'm trying to close for families. Thanks for your input though.

@Wingwalk that's a weird thing to say about a 19 year old you know nothing about but then you have made several personal digs without actually engaging with the idea at all. Before coming on here, I heard there were trolls but didn't want to believe it, lol. Anyway, I wish you all the best in whatever you do.

Yup, well covered in the Money pillar. Thank you

Really appreciate this, and the care leavers point is a good one, you don't know what you don't know gets worse the fewer people you've had around to pick things up from. Mental health's in there already, plus bills, switching providers and renting scams. Food on a budget and where to actually go for help aren't covered yet, good gap to flag. Here's what I'm building: www.stuffschooldidntteach.com

This!!!

Really means a lot, thank you. Here's what I'm building: www.stuffschooldidntteach.com

for me, most subjects, most if not all is self taught info that and chatgpt in the past few years

also op research the books and articles by john gatto taylor

Building something after noticing a gap, came directly out of my parenting. And I'm not sure why explaining things to your three year old and me building this are somehow in competition. FYI this paid board is literally called Non-member requests and exists for exactly that reason - market research. Thanks for your input though

“What did you do in PSHE today?”
”Urgh. Drugs. Again. Why can’t we do useful stuff like how to apply for a job or get a mortgage?”

Genuine conversation with a yr9 student.

Agreed but there is a lot to cover though https://www.stuffschooldidntteach.com/ and not all parents have the skills, knowledge or ability to teach most of the stuff I am trying to cover.

This is just a post wanting free market research but actually I think it is important to teach life skills such as different types of pensions, mortgages etc. in school.

School is becoming more and more abstract. When we did home economics we were given a brief eg "make a pie" and then had to find our own recipe, shop for it and work out costs etc including the cooking cost. We'd have real life challenges like how would you make the pie into a healthy meal or your pie serves 4 but 6 people turn up for tea, what are you going to do? We would even talk about things like budget vs quality. In contrast, my daughter was told "this week we'll be making chicken kievs, buy this, now cook it using these instructions" and that was it.

Not all children have adults at home who can/will help them. For instance if my daughter asked me about pensions, I wouldn't have a clue.

Our dc had been taught all about budgeting. They were set into groups of two and had to work out rent, bills and so on.

Insurance. Car, travel, health etc. and how important is. Young people think they’re invincible!

Excuse me, but your question is posed incorrectly.

It's not the school's job to teach them about finance. That's the parents' job. The school's job is mainly to impart scholarly information - and to teach them how to sit still plus basic writing skills.

So it seems to me that your question should be:
What practical skills and concepts should a teenager learn at home?

And then make it a website that would also be aimed at parents.

I deal with the public in my job, and general knowledge is dreadful. I’m in an advisor role and the amount of people who don’t know things is amazing.
I deal with low and high earners and they are all the same. Sometimes I feel like I am a human Google!
Explaining how to use a search engine!