Have you ever met an adult who didn’t know how to do a basic life skill that you thought should have been obvious? It’s amazing sometimes what people aren’t taught when they’re kids. If you don’t want any of your kids to be that occasionally helpless adult, make sure they learn these basic life skills.

1. Laundry

It’s amazing how many people head out on their own with no idea how to do the laundry. My husband sometimes talks about how often he would see people in tears in the college laundry room during the first weekend of school. Other times he would see people hauling bags of laundry home each week for their parents to handle.

Laundry is a basic household chore kids should be helping with as soon as they’re old enough. Folding laundry can start at a pretty young age. Loading the washing machine, adding the soap, and choosing the right cycle should wait until the kids are tall enough for the job. Even very young kids can help push clothes into the dryer, though. My youngest thought that was fun for the longest time.

2. Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping sounds so easy, but it’s not that easy to do right. Teach your kids how to do grocery shopping on a budget and for specific meals. Have them go through the weekly ads so they know what the best deals are that week during the planning process. If you’re out of a basic ingredient they might not notice right away, but they’ll remember that lesson for the next time.

Older kids can be sent to the store to do much of the shopping themselves, but you don’t have to leave the younger kids out of it. As soon as they’re old enough, start sending kids to different parts of the store to fetch things for you. This way they’ll be more comfortable when it comes time to do the whole job.

3. Cooking

It can be truly horrifying when you realize how many people have no idea how to cook a healthy meal, something better than food from a box or a can. You can get by that way, but your kids will be better off as adults if they can handle cooking healthy meals from scratch.

Of course, even in healthy cooking, canned foods may have their place. Make sure your kids can use the can opener too.

Another important cooking skill is knowing what to do when the smoke alarm goes off because dinner is getting a little smokey. That’s the one time when it makes more sense to disconnect the smoke alarm and air out the house, rather than assume a fire has started somewhere. There’s always the standard “dinner’s ready!” comment you can make as the smoke alarm screams… so long as they also understand when it’s serious.

4. Table Manners

You may or may not eat at the kitchen table regularly as a family. No matter what, your kids should know the basics of table manners. This basic life skill is something that can make a difference to them, both personally and professionally.

You don’t have to cover every place setting for a huge, fancy meal. Do make them comfortable with using the usual utensils correctly, passing food around, using napkins properly, and so forth.

This may be important in their careers, depending on what they do. Some people meet with clients over meals, and lots of jobs have occasional company parties to attend. Having proper manners will keep them from making a bad impression. Not to mention how they may look on dates.

5. What To Do With Leftovers

Lots of people are bad about leftovers, or at least eating them. There’s a reason why most people have to clean them out of the refrigerator so often.

Teach your kids about how long leftovers stay good in the fridge, and what containers are safe for reheating in the microwave. Not every to go food container belongs in the microwave, nor do all dishes.

And of course, show them how to make leftovers more interesting. We love to get rotisserie chicken from Costco. The leftovers get shredded to top salads or make sandwiches, and the bones are used for broth. Using leftovers in a variety of ways can teach kids how to make the most of the food they have.

6. Taking Medication Safely

Taking medication safely isn’t that difficult in most ways, but it’s very important. Antibiotics, for example, are most effective when taken on the prescribed schedule at the correct dosage, and of course, the entire course of antibiotics must be finished.

You can start out by teaching your older kids what dosage to take of relatively safe medications. Helping them learn to swallow pills will be a huge help also, although some kids (and even adults) may not be able to do so. My kids handle it themselves if they need some ibuprofen, for example. One still can’t swallow pills, so we keep a supply of chewable ibuprofen around. Honestly, I can’t either, so it’s for me too.

7. Expiration Dates

Food expiration dates can be a bit tricky, but it’s important to understand that they don’t always mean the food has expired. More important to know is how long foods should stay good in your refrigerator, and what it smells like as it goes bad.

Medication expiration dates can be important too. Some medications can become poisonous over time, while others will merely be a little less effective. Teach your kids to look up expired medications before use for safety.

8. Ordering At A Restaurant

Don’t always place food orders for your kids. Have them order for themselves. Do this not only at fast food places but at sit-down restaurants as well. It’s not difficult once your kids are used to it.

Your kids should also learn the basic etiquette around tipping. Who to tip and how much can be important in certain situations.

Teach them the easy way to calculate 10% by simply moving the decimal over on the bill total, and then going to 20% by doubling that. Rounding the numbers off makes it all easier, of course.

9. Money Management

It’s important for kids to have limited spending money from a young age so that they learn to manage their money well. This is an incredibly important yet basic life skill so that they know what they can afford to spend on things as adults and stay within their budgets.

You can start this one out with budgets for buying gifts for friends, as well as using their own spending money for things. As kids get older, give them an appropriate budget to buy their own clothes. This one can make picky kids a lot less choosy, as they realize they can’t buy everything they want.

As they get older, let them see what your household budget is. Make sure they know all the expenses that go into living on their own – rent/mortgage, utilities, food, clothes, car, and so forth.

Talk to them about the proper use of credit cards, especially how difficult it can be to get out of debt once you’re in. There may be times in their lives when it’s the best solution, but they need to know what the consequences can be. It’s best if they know that credit cards should not be used frivolously if they can’t pay off the balance immediately. Credit cards can be useful tools for building a credit history so that buying a car or house later is easier, but only if they aren’t misused.

10. Basic Computer/Tech Troubleshooting

I know this is a weakness of many adults, and it might be for you as well. But the more basic troubleshooting you can handle on your own technology, the less you have to call for help. Of course, depending on your kids, they may be handling the tech troubleshooting for you.

Sometimes this is as simple as restarting the device. That’s the first thing I ask my kids when they say something isn’t working. If they haven’t done a reboot, I send them to do one. This solves a ton of problems. It even works for a lot of router problems if you reboot the router.

Other problems are more serious. Make sure your kids know how to run a malware scanner so they can handle things if they suspect a computer virus or similar problem.

Many computer problems can be resolved by searching for the problem, and then following the directions you find. I always have people in awe of the things I can solve on the computer, but really it was all Google. I just followed the directions.

If you’re more ambitious, some basic troubleshooting and repairs can be done to the components of the device itself. I’ve helped my son build a computer, but even before that I had switched out RAM, replaced a power supply and a fan on various computers of mine. Much of this is not all that hard to do and kept us from needing expensive repairs.

11. Keeping Tech Use Legal

Lots of people make mistakes in using technology. I remember when downloading music illegally was a huge thing. Then many people were sued by the music companies, and the illegality of the whole thing became clear. Many people learned painful and expensive lessons.

Illegal downloads are still a problem, and as parents, you should teach your kids to keep things legal. It could save you trouble, as well as help your kids down the road.

For example, I found out my oldest was watching anime on a website her high school anime club used. When I looked it up, I had to inform her that there was a problem – the site wasn’t streaming legal copies. Fortunately, it also turned out to be easy to find legal sites for her to use. It had never occurred to her that someone might use an illegal site at school.

Sexting is another thing you want to discuss with your kids. Even sending a picture of themselves could be considered child pornography when they’re underage. There’s also the risk of having pictures shared with other people without permission. This may not be a comfortable topic to discuss with your kids, but it could be an important one.

12. Following Directions

Whether it’s following the directions given by a GPS, directions on how to build something, following a recipe, or following instructions from their boss, kids need to know how to follow directions.

Have your kids do these things as they grow up. Get them kits to build things. When they’re old enough to cook, have them follow recipes. You could even write out directions to a place you want them to go and have them walk or ride a bike there.

13. Decision Making

Kids can be so indecisive at times. It’s a basic life skill that may not come naturally to everyone, but if you give your kids plenty of opportunities to make decisions – large or small – they’ll learn the skill quickly.

Help your kids do this by teaching them the process of making a good decision. Sometimes it’s as simple as what their mood dictates, but other times there may be research involved.

Give them the opportunity to make decisions that have consequences. Help them look at the decision from multiple angles so that they see the positive and negative consequences of their actions.

Try not to impose your own biases in all of their decisions, however. Your kids will make decisions that you disagree with as they grow up. You’ll set a better example and hopefully have a better relationship with them if you can discuss your opinions with each other politely. But if you shut your kids down every time you disagree with their opinion, they aren’t necessarily learning how to make good decisions – they’re learning that they can’t discuss some things with you.

14. How To Clean Everything In The House

Kids should have age-appropriate chores starting at a young age. Sometimes their “help” will make the job go more slowly for you, but that’s how they learn to do things. Little kids can put away plastic containers, and even use a few simple tools. Mine loved our electric sweeper when they were little, which allowed them to effectively clean a mess from the floor even when a broom would have been too much to handle.

As kids get into their teens, make sure they know how to do everything it takes to keep a house clean. This should eventually include the jobs that are done relatively rarely, such as cleaning the refrigerator coils – an important job if you have cats or dogs who shed a lot!

If you’re comfortable opening up a computer, you may also want to include how to dust the inside of a computer. Dust gets really bad in most of them, and it’s better for your computer if it gets cleaned off sometimes. We use canned air to blow out the worst of the dust, and a small, soft paintbrush to clean out the heatsink. This is a basic life skill that even many parents may not have, so if you need to learn it, check out this article.

15. Household Repairs

Teach your kids how to handle basic household repairs. This can include painting walls, hanging pictures with a nail, dealing with a running toilet, dealing with minor clogs, and so forth.

Just how many household repairs you teach depends on what you can handle and what you’re comfortable learning yourself online. The more you can handle yourself, the less often you have to pay a professional to do it for you.

16. Car Maintenance

While you don’t have to teach your kids how to change a car’s oil unless you want to, they must learn how often the job needs to be done. This is also a good time to teach your kids how to talk to a professional. Confidence in dealing with the various professionals you have to deal with in life is a big help.

How to change a flat is also important. Fix A Flat is often an option, but it may not be the best one all the time. Tow trucks are of course an option, but the wait time can be awful.

The easiest and yet most miserable time to teach this is when you actually have a flat. Flat tires happen to all cars eventually, so you may be able to use one as a teaching moment. Otherwise, just teach the kids how to use a jack on their car, how to remove the tire, and where the spare is kept.

17. Safe Sex

It doesn’t matter if you believe that sex should be reserved for marriage or if your only concern is that your kids take appropriate precautions when having sex. All teens need to know the rules for safe sex. This may help when relationships move toward the physical side of things. Many well-meaning teens let things go further than they meant to in the heat of the moment.

Don’t assume that kids will do what you want or what you did when it comes to sex. Think back to your teen years. Did you do things against your parents’ beliefs? Did your friends? Kids become adults who make their own decisions about sex and sexuality. You can express your beliefs, but you can’t force your kids to believe exactly as you do.

18. Taking Public Transit

Having your own car is a wonderful thing. You may plan on your kids each having their own car as they reach appropriate ages. But they should still learn how to take public transit.

Find your local bus schedules online and help your kids figure out how to get from Point A to Point B using public transit, and head out together. Have your kids handle as much of the process as possible.

This is important because you never know when the need to take public transit may come up. In some places, it’s a major way of getting around.

19. Job Hunting & Interviewing

Looking for a job is no fun for anyone, and interviewing can be scary. Make sure your kids have some idea of what to expect with each.

Remember that some of the rules for job hunting have changed in recent years. Going from business to business and asking if they’re hiring isn’t as effective as it used to be. Lots of companies only want people to apply online, and they don’t want to be called and asked about applications. That’s often seen more negatively now.

That said if your teen sees a company hiring the old-fashioned way, with a sign in the window, have them go in and apply. Those first jobs can be hard to find, and some companies do still use paper applications.

For interviews, practice keeping eye contact with your teen and help them learn how to deal with the questions that are likely to be asked. Teens spend a lot of time using technology these days, so they aren’t always good with eye contact or knowing when to shake a hand.

20. Advocate For Themselves

I know how tempting it is to be your child’s best advocate. There are lots of times when it’s appropriate. But there also comes a time with most kids when it’s better for them to learn to advocate for themselves. This basic life skill can only develop if you encourage it.

You can start this when they’re at an appropriate age in school and need to go to a teacher to discuss a problem with an assignment. Don’t insist on doing this for them throughout their entire school careers. There comes a time when they should handle it.

The ability to speak up for themselves will help your kids as adults. They must be comfortable saying something when issues arise at work or with friends. This is especially important in learning to say “no” to people, whether in a romantic relationship or a professional one.

21. Packing For A Trip

I know a lot of parents prefer to pack for their kids when going on a family trip. This ensures that the kids have everything they need. No forgotten toothbrushes or other important supplies!

Kids need to learn to do this themselves. Once they’re old enough, start by telling them how many days to pack for, and then check what they’ve packed. Talk about where they packed too much or too little. Eventually, they’ll know how to do the job right.

When visiting family, I also extend this to packing up stuff to return home. My kids have gone weeks without a beloved toy because they left it at Grandma’s. They don’t forget things often now, because they know I won’t let Grandma mail anything forgotten to us without very good reason. Most items can wait for us until the next visit.

22. Doing Things On Time

How good are your kids at getting up on time for school? Turning in assignments on time? What about handling chores in a reasonable timeframe?

All these things are basic life skills. Lots of people lose jobs because they’re chronically late or frequently take too long to complete assigned tasks.

For school assignments, my kids’ middle school has them keep an agenda with assignments and due dates. I love that the school teaches them to track assignments.

Teach your kids to start work early on long term assignments. I’ve had the occasional run-in with my kids with the old “this huge assignment is due tomorrow and I need books for it right now!” thing. I’ve snoozed on the couch so they could ask for help late at night… our printer can be really fussy at inconvenient times, and it took a while to teach the kids how to handle the various issues.

23. Helping Others

Have your kids do volunteer work. What they can do will depend on your area and what’s permitted for their ages.

We’re lucky that a local animal shelter lets us volunteer, right down to my youngest child. We’re kind of grandfathered in, as they changed their volunteer minimum age a year or two ago. But since they know my youngest is not only good with animals but wants to be a vet, they’re willing to let her keep volunteering.

24. Talking To Strangers

You’ve heard of the old “Stranger Danger” thing no doubt, but I believe there are better rules than that to teach your kids to be safer around strangers. The big one is that there are appropriate times to talk to a stranger, but it’s not safe to go places with a stranger.

Many people feel that it is better to teach kids about “tricky people” rather than stranger danger. This takes more judgment on the part of your kids, but good judgment is something you want them to learn.

Just think about how likely it is that a child may have to ask a stranger for help. Being mildly lost is even scarier if you aren’t supposed to talk to strangers who might help you.

Teach your kids that it’s okay to yell for help if there’s a problem, fight back if attacked, and so forth. Teach them which adults are the best to approach if they are lost, such as a parent with kids, or an employee of the place that they’re at.

As they get older, help them get comfortable with the everyday conversations adults have with strangers. Even little kids can chat with the cashier or the friendly person you’re talking to when you’re out and about. So long as they know what the limits should be and what to do when there’s a problem, it’s pretty safe. It’s also necessary if your kids are going to function as adults later.

25. Swimming

You may not have a swimming pool. I don’t have a swimming pool. But you better believe my kids know how to swim.

Swimming may not be vital for day to day life, but most people will have an opportunity to go swimming at some point. Maybe a friend will have a pool, or the apartment complex will have one. Maybe they go to the beach, lake or river. Knowing how to swim makes people much safer when they’re around the water. It’s also fun.

26?? Can You Think Of More Basic Life Skills?

What other basic life skills can you think of that should be shared with kids as they grow up? I must have missed some. Tell me about them.

The post 25+ Basic Life Skills Parents Need To Teach Their Kids appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Cooking is a great skill to teach your kids. It’s something that everyone should learn how to do, at least at a basic level. It’s not an easy lesson to give if your child is nervous about dealing with the heat of the stove or oven, but it’s important. The kids may test your patience as cooking dinner takes longer than usual and they make little mistakes and messes, but they will feel proud of what they’ve accomplished. Here are more reasons you should cook with your kids.

1. It’s time together.

Many families find it hard to make time to be together. School, activities, doing stuff with friends, work, it all adds up. Cooking together is time to talk, not just about what you’re making, but any other topic that comes up.

This is why I prefer to cook with just one of my kids at a time… that and the sheer truth about “too many cooks spoil the broth.” One on one time with any of my kids is a good thing.

2. It’s good for their self esteem.

Kids are really proud of what they’ve accomplished when they cook. They may even brag about it at school. My oldest became more interested in cooking when a group of her middle school aged friends started talking about what their favorites foods to make were. She enjoyed cooking well enough before that, but hadn’t really considered that my offers to teach her more might be worthwhile.

3. It teaches them to be comfortable with heat and kitchen tools.

My kids have all been on the nervous side about cooking due to the heat. As they’ve learned, they’ve discovered that it’s not that hard to work around, and the occasional injury isn’t that bad. My oldest was quite upset the first time she got a burn on her hand – nothing severe, but definitely painful that day – and was relieved when she realized how little discomfort there was the next day.

Cooking also helps them to be more comfortable with knives and other utensils. It takes a little work getting them comfortable, but it’s such a relief to no longer have to cut each child’s meat at mealtimes. Start them early with things that can be safely sliced with a butter knife so they learn technique while dealing with a knife that only rarely does serious damage (butter knives can still hurt someone who’s using them wrong!) and work up to sharper knives as they learn how to cut things better. Guide them through the differences as they cut tougher items.

4. Kids are more likely to eat what they cook.

Kids who have helped to cook a meal are more likely to eat that meal. They made it, after all! It’s not a guarantee, but it’s better odds.

5. Science and math!

Yes, I am that geeky mom who talks science and math with my kids when we cook. I point out that moisture evaporates from eggs when we cook them, and about the boiling point of water. I double or halve recipes when I can with the kids and make them do the math for the ingredients, then explain how cooking times may change. Nothing too pushy, but when I notice it, I explain it or have them try to explain. Chemical reactions are fun to explain too!

6. It encourages reading.

Not only do kids have to read while going through the recipe, you can encourage your kids to read through cookbooks and pick out recipes they want to try. Be prepared to say “no” a lot, however. Kids will always pick out some extravagant recipes. My son just went through a book on barbecuing, and picked out a bunch of recipes involving crab and lobster for the most part. On our budget, that’s not generally going to happen.

7. It’s a sensory experience.

Cooking food isn’t only about the taste at the dinner table. There are wonderful sights and smells, and changes in texture through the entire process. My youngest has something of an obsession with smells, and this makes cooking a real treat for her. She often wants to smell what I’m doing, even more than she wants to look at it.

8. Familiarity with real food.

Food from a box isn’t all wrong – most people resort to it at times, but it just doesn’t compare to freshly prepared food. Helping to prepare meals allows your children to see where their meals come from, and what it looked like at first. They may find some of it gross (how my kids hate the sight and feel of raw chicken!), but it becomes something they enjoy after it’s cooked.

9. Eventually they’ll be a real help in the kitchen.

Teaching your child any new skill means you have to slow things down to their pace. It’s not convenient at the moment to teach your child to cook, but the day will come when he or she will be able to cook a meal all alone, and you won’t have to help. You’ll probably have days where that will be really nice.

10. It’s a life skill.

Ever meet an adult who simply cannot cook? I have. It’s not that uncommon for college age kids to only be able to cook food in a microwave, and maybe spaghetti. Your kids will be glad to be able to prepare better food for themselves at a lower cost than they’d pay to eat out.

The post 10 Simple Reasons to Cook With Your Kids appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

One of the things I enjoy doing with my kids is teaching them basic life skills. It seems like a lot of parents skip some of the basics with their kids these days, because it’s easier to do it yourself than to teach it.

Suckers. Teaching it is hard, but eventually the kids know how to do it for you. Then it starts paying off… aside from hearing the kids complain about having to do whatever chores you assign them.

My intent is to have both of my daughters and my son learn the basics of running a household. Not just cooking and cleaning, but basic repairs and dealing with technology too.

My intent is to have both of my daughters and my son learn the basics of running a household.

This incompetence in basic skills is something I remember seeing in my fellow students when I lived in the dorms in college. It was amazing how many had never done a single load of laundry.

You want to teach chores at appropriate ages. My oldest can cook a little bit on the stove, and will be learning more soon. She’s finally tall enough to deal with the controls on the washer and dryer, so more laundry is about to be added to her list.

My son does some basic food heating in the microwave. He’s also puzzling out how to make PB&J sandwiches – the thickness of the peanut butter still gives him trouble.

The oldest two both do chores that involve sweeping, mopping and scrubbing. It takes a lot of supervision still, to make sure they don’t do a sloppy job then give up. But they do them.

The youngest is still too young for chores.

Division of Labor

In some ways, my husband and I have a pretty traditional division in labor, mostly because I work at home so I’m there to get things done all day. But any chore I ask him to do he can do well enough, and I’ve learned to not criticize when he loads the dishwasher differently from how I would do it unless there’s a genuine problem that would keep the dishes from getting clean. We go nontraditional in other ways.

I want my kids to know that they can handle whatever jobs around the house need doing, whether it’s traditionally “men’s work” or “women’s work”.

I want my kids to know that they can handle whatever jobs around the house need doing, whether it’s traditionally “men’s work” or “women’s work”. They can all be competent.

That’s why I make sure that while I’m more likely to do some chores, sometimes my husband does them, and vice versa. Who does which has much to do with preferences and who can get a particular job done better or faster, rather than traditional gender roles. I handle just about all the technology stuff, for example.

Important Skills

There are a lot of skills I want my kids to have by their mid-teens at the latest, so they’re well practiced by adulthood. They include cooking a variety of foods, following a recipe, basic repair sewing, using a hammer, using a screwdriver, painting a wall, emptying the trash, sweeping, mopping, knowing when basic car maintenance needs to be done, mowing a lawn, doing the laundry, living on a budget, and more.

You can’t assume that kids will go from living with you to living with a spouse who has all of these skills, so I call them necessary. Just think about time spent living in college dorms or apartments where they’re going to have to handle many of these things on their own.

Don’t Let Them Feign Incompetence

Learning that you have to do your share even when you aren’t in the mood is a great lesson.

Kids are great at pretending that they can’t handle various chores. They’ll call them too hard when they really just aren’t in the mood to do the work, even on chores they do regularly. They’ll also try to claim a new chore is too difficult when they aren’t in the mood to learn a new skill.

Don’t let them get away with it. Learning that you have to do your share even when you aren’t in the mood is a great lesson.

Don’t let them get away with doing a sloppy job on a chore you know they’re usually better at. Wanting to head out to play with friends or to play on the computer isn’t an excuse for sloppy work. I usually remind my kids that I don’t have to let them do fun things until their work is done. They don’t like that, but it usually gets them moving.

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