Today's young people know so much more about computers and computer games than the average adult, but seem to be lacking in some basic life skills. It may be time to teach some life skills at home as well as at school.
The skills I am talking about are simple tasks like changing a light switch or an electrical outlet in the home. These are easy to do, but potentially life threatening if the main power isn't turned off before attempting the home repair.
There are many simple repairs hardly worth calling a home repair service to fix.
Another useful thing would be basic financial skills. While I realize that few people write checks any more, sometimes they are needed and people need to know how to fill them out correctly.
Reconciling one's checking or savings account is also needed. Many people use their debit cards for everything and forget to take into consideration the automatic payments they have scheduled. Then they run into financial problems when something critical, such as the rent payment, is rejected by the bank.
Budgeting one's money is critical, as well as knowing where and what the money is spent on.
Another needed skill is basic organizing. How to maintain a calendar for appointments and meetings, how to prevent scheduling duplicate appointments and how to be on time to meetings are important tasks. So is being able to correctly file and store important papers so they can be retrieved when needed.
Basic cooking skills are also necessary when one moves away from home. Learning to make a dish from a written recipe is useful. How to maintain hygiene in the kitchen to avoid cross contamination is crucial.
Learning to sort laundry and read garment tags for the proper laundering techniques is important. Many of us have laundered a garment that needed to be dry cleaned and rendered the item unusable. There is also an art to folding and storing many items, such as towels, fitted sheets, blankets, under garments and so on.
Here are a few more suggestions:
•How to sew on a button, or repair the hem of a garment.
•How to properly clean the bathroom.
•How to vacuum and mop a floor.
•How to change a vehicle tire.
•How to read a map.
•How to prepare for a hurricane.
•Basic first aid skills.
•Basic etiquette.
•Basic gardening, for a lovely yard.
I hope you all had a nice Labor Day weekend, fellow Crestview residents.
Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Necessary life skills for young people