I must admit I'm sniggering a little in Eastern European. 😅 But to be honest, kids grow up in the culture and timeline they belong to. I could make a fishing rod, catch a fish and gut it before I was 10, because that was a children's game for us. My 15 year old can't do that, but he can code and do other things I can't. Also, I think it's unhelpful to mix up character traits with skills. There will always be people who are uncomfortable in social situations. I'm 42 and I struggle to make phone calls and respond to invitations and things like that. I don't think I can "learn" to be good at that. The thing is, a list like this is good to make a mental check sometimes, but cultivating a mindset of self-reliance is way more important. Having that, people will adapt and develop skills according to the actual need not because the skill is good on its own somehow.
Great point, Alma. Thanks for sharing. I agree that not everyone is suitable to every thing on this list, but it's a good place to kick off an important conversation about building independence in young people.
An incapable human is a weak human. If we had to be good at everything we do none of us could make it through our lives. Experience begets wisdom, and too many people in these comments are discounting experiences they don't personally care about, or thinking that what we desire has any bearing on what is necessary. For a list that cannot be comprehensive by nature, the breadth you achieved was helpful, thank you.
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” —Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough For Love
Great end game list, but it is important to help people understand this starts when children are toddlers and helping them from early on develop capacity and independence. Yes a toddler can safely cut with a butter knife if shown how, initially practicing with a banana. This leads to much more and the confidence to try.
Lovely list! Another may be to set a formal dinner table to properly arrange the place settings. I have my kids set the table for holidays and have an etiquette book we pull out so they can look at a picture to place all the items!
This was timely. I’m putting together a checklist of life skills for my kids to learn and there’s a few here I’ll need to add to it. Thank you for sharing this.
These are great. We do many of these in the life skills class I teach for special ed in high school - how to read a paystub, how to fill out a medical form, how to send a professional email…
I'm so thankful that my parents taught me almost all of these things when I was growing up -- it's made a huge difference in life. It teaches independence, self-sufficiency, stoicism, and conservation of resources and time. I'm going to save this link and list for consideration as I continue to develop one of my longer-term education projects. I'm also going to share it on here with my tiny group of subscribers (today is only day 13 on here for me) and my 200 close friends over on Facebook. Awesome job! Steven
In high school we had a class called Career and Life Management (CALM) that covered a lot of that. Working in a resturant and auto shop class covered a lot more of it and then the day after graduating my parents left town so I figured out the rest of it like hooking up a phone when you needed to phone the company that does it!
Still haven't caught a fish though, maybe I'll try again after retirement.
I am considerably older than 18 and cannot do about 20% of these things. Gut a fish? I have the fishmonger up the street for that!
And I just got back from the UK where the car rental agencies have been told by the Canadian government not to rent standards to Canadians since they don't know how to drive them.
I realize gutting a fish might be out there, and depends on one's diet/geographic location, but I added it after hearing about my brother's girlfriend gutting a big fish they caught in Norway a couple weeks ago and frying it up in their hostel, like it was the most normal thing in the world, and I was impressed!
Hear hear Lloyd. I didn't bother reading past #5 as there were already some I couldnt do. And some I never will. (I can drive a standard in Europe though.) Even further, I look at my favourite 18yr old down the street and am sure he wouldn't be interested in half these things, and he will be fine anyway. So who is this list really for?
I'm sorry it didn't feel like a good fit for you. I know some of them might be a bit of a stretch, and some might be suited to certain personalities more than others, and it's far from comprehensive, but I thought it was a fun place to kick off an important conversation about building independence in young people.
I also taught my kids how to find resources—humans, books, technology. Adulthood isn’t about knowing it all, but about having the confidence to know you can find a way, build a team to help accomplish it, etc.
Agree in theory. In practice, most people won’t acquire these skills until they’re 30.
Then consider it aspirational!
Lots never do…….
Use a meat thermometer!
I must admit I'm sniggering a little in Eastern European. 😅 But to be honest, kids grow up in the culture and timeline they belong to. I could make a fishing rod, catch a fish and gut it before I was 10, because that was a children's game for us. My 15 year old can't do that, but he can code and do other things I can't. Also, I think it's unhelpful to mix up character traits with skills. There will always be people who are uncomfortable in social situations. I'm 42 and I struggle to make phone calls and respond to invitations and things like that. I don't think I can "learn" to be good at that. The thing is, a list like this is good to make a mental check sometimes, but cultivating a mindset of self-reliance is way more important. Having that, people will adapt and develop skills according to the actual need not because the skill is good on its own somehow.
Great point, Alma. Thanks for sharing. I agree that not everyone is suitable to every thing on this list, but it's a good place to kick off an important conversation about building independence in young people.
An incapable human is a weak human. If we had to be good at everything we do none of us could make it through our lives. Experience begets wisdom, and too many people in these comments are discounting experiences they don't personally care about, or thinking that what we desire has any bearing on what is necessary. For a list that cannot be comprehensive by nature, the breadth you achieved was helpful, thank you.
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.” —Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough For Love
Change furnace air filter. And vehicle air filters.
Great end game list, but it is important to help people understand this starts when children are toddlers and helping them from early on develop capacity and independence. Yes a toddler can safely cut with a butter knife if shown how, initially practicing with a banana. This leads to much more and the confidence to try.
Agreed! Training is cumulative, and must begin at a young age.
Lovely list! Another may be to set a formal dinner table to properly arrange the place settings. I have my kids set the table for holidays and have an etiquette book we pull out so they can look at a picture to place all the items!
I’d add understanding dress codes to that. I called them “costumes” and expected my kids to dress up/down, etc for various occasions.
Good suggestion!
This was timely. I’m putting together a checklist of life skills for my kids to learn and there’s a few here I’ll need to add to it. Thank you for sharing this.
Call me Elizabeth Bennet, because, uh, I don’t know any ladies who are this accomplished. 😅
Ha! But it doesn't hurt to have something to aspire to :)
This made me laugh so hard 😂
42 and haven't got quite a lot of these down. I have baked a few cakes by now tho.
Good for you! My husband baked his first-ever cake for my birthday this year.
These are great. We do many of these in the life skills class I teach for special ed in high school - how to read a paystub, how to fill out a medical form, how to send a professional email…
I'm so thankful that my parents taught me almost all of these things when I was growing up -- it's made a huge difference in life. It teaches independence, self-sufficiency, stoicism, and conservation of resources and time. I'm going to save this link and list for consideration as I continue to develop one of my longer-term education projects. I'm also going to share it on here with my tiny group of subscribers (today is only day 13 on here for me) and my 200 close friends over on Facebook. Awesome job! Steven
I was doing okay until "fold a fitted sheet" 😅
I didn't say "fold it well".... ;) Mine are an atrocious mess.
In high school we had a class called Career and Life Management (CALM) that covered a lot of that. Working in a resturant and auto shop class covered a lot more of it and then the day after graduating my parents left town so I figured out the rest of it like hooking up a phone when you needed to phone the company that does it!
Still haven't caught a fish though, maybe I'll try again after retirement.
I am considerably older than 18 and cannot do about 20% of these things. Gut a fish? I have the fishmonger up the street for that!
And I just got back from the UK where the car rental agencies have been told by the Canadian government not to rent standards to Canadians since they don't know how to drive them.
I realize gutting a fish might be out there, and depends on one's diet/geographic location, but I added it after hearing about my brother's girlfriend gutting a big fish they caught in Norway a couple weeks ago and frying it up in their hostel, like it was the most normal thing in the world, and I was impressed!
Hear hear Lloyd. I didn't bother reading past #5 as there were already some I couldnt do. And some I never will. (I can drive a standard in Europe though.) Even further, I look at my favourite 18yr old down the street and am sure he wouldn't be interested in half these things, and he will be fine anyway. So who is this list really for?
I'm sorry it didn't feel like a good fit for you. I know some of them might be a bit of a stretch, and some might be suited to certain personalities more than others, and it's far from comprehensive, but I thought it was a fun place to kick off an important conversation about building independence in young people.
Exhausting! You forgot riding a horse and fighting a duel.
Ha! Point taken ;)
At 70 I can do this but remembering names to faces in the street….
I also taught my kids how to find resources—humans, books, technology. Adulthood isn’t about knowing it all, but about having the confidence to know you can find a way, build a team to help accomplish it, etc.
I like that a lot!
Being an adult is all about, in short, taking responsibility for getting things done.
If that means asking (or paying) someone who is more capable, then fine. Just make sure that the thing is done.