Life Skills

[lizzywednesday]

Lizzy -- when my girls were juniors, they were learning how to manage their troop and how to have a business meeting. One of the things we did was have a treasurer's report. Each of the girls had a balance book and pencil in a pencil bag in their notebook. I would let them know what payments I had made and what money I had deposited. I shared with them each transaction so they could start getting an appreciation about how much different things costs. Then, I gave them the total amount of what we had spent and the total amount of what we had deposited. The girls entered these total in their balance book and did the math. We rotated our "jobs" and the girl who was the treasure for that meeting had a calculator to do the math. She shared her numbers with everyone else so girls could make corrections, if necessary. My girls are older now and we don't do this anymore.... but, I think it was helpful for them to start taking ownership of their troop business and get a realistic understanding for how much it costs to go camping, buy awards, do activities, etc.

I love this; it's a good way to develop their financial literacy skills without making product sales feel mandatory or high-pressure from me.

[hbridge]

Make sure your teen can prepare a simply meal after shopping for the ingredients...

They must know how to FEED themselves.

[carolinacool]

I swear DH makes his first initial and then a line for his "signature" so I'm not too worried about it for DS.

This is exactly how my DH signs his name, too. He has a three-letter first name, but a 10-letter last name. His last name in cursive is the first letter then a line. DS has his last name, so maybe that's all I need to teach him. lol

[doberbrat]

I guess I'll be the 1st to say this thread blows me away and for sure makes me question my parenting skills. I basically knew none of these things except how to drive/put gas into the car and how to write cursive when I got to college. Honestly, I guess I figured my girls would figure it out too.

[MSWR0319]

I guess I'll be the 1st to say this thread blows me away and for sure makes me question my parenting skills. I basically knew none of these things except how to drive/put gas into the car and how to write cursive when I got to college. Honestly, I guess I figured my girls would figure it out too.

Don't feel bad. I was thinking the same thing.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I guess I'll be the 1st to say this thread blows me away and for sure makes me question my parenting skills. I basically knew none of these things except how to drive/put gas into the car and how to write cursive when I got to college. Honestly, I guess I figured my girls would figure it out too.

Ds1 has just been learning things as needed. He's not great about retaining info if it doesn't have an immediate need.

[petesgirl]

I guess I'll be the 1st to say this thread blows me away and for sure makes me question my parenting skills. I basically knew none of these things except how to drive/put gas into the car and how to write cursive when I got to college. Honestly, I guess I figured my girls would figure it out too.

I'm SO behind in teaching life skills.

[petesgirl]

This is DS1.
He's in 4th grade and his print is just barely legible so cursive would be..interesting. He can scribble out some letters for cursive. I swear DH makes his first initial and then a line for his "signature" so I'm not too worried about it for DS.

Oh, thank goodness my 4th grader isn't the only one! My DH does the same thing-- first initial and then a line.

[mmsmom]

Don't feel bad. I was thinking the same thing.

My mother panicked the night before I went to college and sat me down to teach me how to sew on a button and do laundry. Truthfully I had only done a couple loads of laundry on my own at that point. My parents did everything for me but I figured it out when I was on my own My DC now already know way more than I did so I know they’ll figure it out. Some things I knew by instinct, sometimes I called my mom or asked friends and some things I learned the hard way. But I figured it all out just fine!

ETA: and in my days calling my mom meant a landline phone and long distance fees so I definitely tried to figure out on my own first. These days kids can text someone or Google or You Tube for answers.

[ett]

I guess I'll be the 1st to say this thread blows me away and for sure makes me question my parenting skills. I basically knew none of these things except how to drive/put gas into the car and how to write cursive when I got to college. Honestly, I guess I figured my girls would figure it out too.

Yup, thinking the same thing too and DS1 is going to college in the fall! I figured he will just figure things out when the time comes.