The kids are gone…Now what?

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6 Life Skills Every Kid Needs To Know Before Heading Off To College

basic life skills

6 Life Skills Every Kid Needs To Know Before Heading Off To School

 

Every parent of a teenager knows their kid believes they know everything.  But do they?  The ability to text one hundred words per minute.  The correct technique for taking a selfie.  These are skills, but are they life skills?  Will they keep clean clothes on your child’s back or prevent them from starving?  They will not.

 

Of course, as parents, it’s partly on us.  Maybe it’s just easier to do everything for our kids.  Maybe we just never got around to teaching them.  Maybe doing it yourself is the best way to avoid the teenage wrath.  It really doesn’t matter.  What matters is that they learn important life skills before you send them off.

 

The best advice I can give is to start early and do everything in moderation.  You don’t want to be teaching your kid how to do laundry the week before they leave in the midst of packing and saying goodbye to friends.  Trust me.  That won’t end well.

 

So here’s a list of five life skills to teach your kids

  1. Cooking (ramen noodles, mac and cheese, how to boil water. These all count as cooking)
  2. Laundry
  3. Basic personal finances. Using a credit card/ATM
  4. What medication to take when they’re sick.
  5. Finding resources. Ask questions.  Examples – They broke their leg.  Where do they get a wheelchair/golf cart on campus to get them around?
  6. Getting up on your own. If you’re used to waking them up, they won’t be able to do it on their own.

Parent tip #58,647 – Laundry machines no longer take coins. If you’ve been collecting quarters and intend to send your kid off to school with a bag of quarters. Don’t.

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