Mumsnet users tell IKEA which life skills they'd like to teach their children

[JustineBMumsnet]

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Summer is often a time parents spend more time with their children and it can be a great opportunity to teach life skills: whether that’s cooking, reading, drawing, gardening, or maybe even playing a sport. But, with parents spending more time with their children than ever and home education due to lockdown, many have taken to teaching their children life skills as well as their academic learning. IKEA would like to hear about the life skills you’ve taught - or would like to teach - your children.

Here’s what Marie Tenglund, Interior Design Leader at IKEA has to say: “The ‘Wonderful everyday’ has never been more in focus than it is in our homes today. With so many of us having to support our children with school education at home, try also using this time to broaden the spectrum of learning.

At IKEA we believe teaching children life skills is really important. Sustainable living tops the list for us, so with summer arriving early – try growing produce, outside or inside whilst having fun, experimenting and learning. Harvest your crop together, use it to cook together and finally teach them how to sustainably get rid of waste as you complete the full circle.

Changing your lightbulbs to energy efficient ones, encourage the use or re-usable water bottles, labelling your leftovers in see-through containers for less waste are all simple life skills to share with your children.

Often it’s the smaller things that are easy to do but will have a large impact if we all do it together.”

Would you like to ensure your children have an impressive repertoire of meals they can cook? Perhaps you’d like them to have a healthy understanding of how to budget? Maybe you’re keen for them to learn how to make the perfect cup of tea for very non-selfish reasons? How does your children’s age affect the life skills you’d like to teach them?

Whatever life skills you’ve taught or would like to teach your children, share with IKEA in the thread below and you’ll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £200 IKEA voucher.

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

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We've been teaching them the basics of running a house, budgeting and planning, grocery shopping, how paying bills works, the lot.

My daughters (4 and 7) both know their way around a tool kit. My dad taught my and my sisters to do basic car maintainable, using a tool kit/saw etc..

Also, they can garden and grow food, and cook from scratch. I would like them to know the basics of electrics, and painting. Came in useful many a time for me.

Oh, and hemming. My husband can't sew. It's ridiculous.
Send my kids into the world with a make and mend attitude. Throw away less, reuse more. Simple!

My kids are home educated full time so life skills are an everyday occurrence. My son's know how to wire a plug, change a fuse, mend a broken gate, use the appliances, cook their own meals. We've also taught them old school things like how to read a bus/train timetable, use a phone box telephone, write a letter to a relative. Respect is valuable in our house too, as are good manners- during lockdown they have helped elderly neighbours with shopping. My daughter picked flowers from our garden and gave them to neighbours

To be able to do basic DIY so that she doesn't have to rely on family coming to do it for free, I often find that family are more likely to be unreliable with what day and time they will come and do such things for you, after all, it's family and as we love them unconditionally, then we will obviously forgive them this! It's also far cheaper to be able to DIY and I wouldn't like my daughter to not be able to afford to do something that her home, or garden needs, because she wouldn't have the cash.

DIY is an amazing skill to have yet so many people have zero skills to do so, and I never got taught any of it really and I have had the issue I mentioned initially; family letting me down and taking an age to do very small things.

Being self sufficient is a great thing, and to not need anyone for these things but yourself, makes for an easier life, and we all know just how difficult and stressful life can be at times.

Cooking, the importance of exercise, the ability to say 'no' nicely, sewing, remembering where you park, planning and organisation, keeping your place tidy. All of which I teach with varying rates of success

Teacher not a parent.

Things I'd like teens to know.

How to tell the time, both digital and analogue. It is taught in primary school and then it is often forgotten. You'd be surprised how many can't tell the time on an analogue watch and shocked that many think 12.50 means half past twelve.

Linked to this how to read a bus / train timetable.

How to pay a cheque or actual cash into a bank account. I know cheques are going out of fashion rapidly but in the last month I've had two pay in.

Home phone number / parents' phone numbers. Not just have them stored in a phone they may lose the first week of uni.

My parents did a great practical list of life lessons like budgeting, hacks and cooking. Not such a good job with investments. I'm teaching mine all the valuable lessons i was taught and also financial things like the value of life insurance and saving.

A few but the main one is not to sweat the small stuff. Its OK not to know things, ask. You don't have to be everything to everyone.

My DS is a dab hand at building kits like lego and meccano... should stand him in good stead for Ikea flatpacks in due course!

Meal planning and cooking - I've told my dd that people who can cook for their friends at uni will be popular!

Meantime she cooks several times a week for me which is great! If only I could persuade her to include more veg in her meals though...

Over time I think all children should know
How to sew
How to understand nutrition and balanced eating for healthy body
Basics of how things work like electrics and plugs to be safe
How to use washing machines
Ironing symbols as they get older
Baking basics.
Budgeting

To be confident. Believe in themselves and be who they want to be whilst being empathetic to others.