There are many life skills we weren’t taught in high school that we really should know. It isn’t too late to learn! Here’s a few “how to’s” and general skills that anyone new to adulting should know.
Managing a Bank Account
“Balancing a checkbook” is a bit of an old-fashioned term that really could be translated into Gen-Z speak to mean “managing a bank account.” Essentially, what this means is keeping an eye on expenses and keeping a budget. If you don’t know where your money’s going, it likely means you’re losing track of it and possibly wasting it.
Family Medical History
This cannot be stressed enough. A family medical history is incredibly important because of the rise in health issues as we age. Being aware of your family’s medical history is important; should something happen that requires you to have surgery or be hospitalized, you’ll have a rough idea of your medical history. It’s also helpful to learn if you are genetically predisposed to certain illnesses. For instance, if your family has a history of cancer, you’ll be able to know what to look for and be more careful about habits-wise.
Changing a Tire
Even if you only conceptually need to know how to do this, it’s still something important to be aware of. It’s pretty self-explanatory why this needs to be known, but I’ll do you one better and share an anecdote. When I was commuting one semester (an hour and a half commute, mind you), I ran over something and my tire popped in the middle of the highway. I pulled off the highway, had to wait 45 minutes for my father to come help me change my tire because I didn’t know how to do it, and missed all of my classes that day. I have since learned how to change a tire.
Sewing on a Button
This one isn’t strictly necessary, but it’s a useful skill to have. If you have a favorite sweater or coat that loses a button, being able to sew one on is highly beneficial. It’s not a particularly hard skill to learn, thankfully, but it’s one that everyone should be aware of. You never know when it’ll come in handy!
Tying a Tie
How to tie a tie is a valuable skill for job interviews or weddings you attend. As college students branch out into the “real world,” we need to learn realistic skills to help us navigate our future careers. This is one of them. First impressions are everything these days, so put your best foot forward by learning how to tie a tie.
Ironing
Ironing is a skill I’m quite familiar with but rather loathe. However, much like with tying a tie, first appearances are incredibly important. Having wrinkly clothes does not make a good first impression. It’s important to look your best in a professional setting, so make certain your clothes aren’t all wrinkled and messy looking.
A List of “How Often Should I…”
How often should you change the batteries in your smoke detector? Change your sheets? Replace your toothbrush? Change your air filter? Get your oil changed? Rotate your tires? There’s an overwhelming number of things to keep up with as a young adult and having these things spread across a list may help you keep them in order and remember when you should be doing things. You could even design a customized spreadsheet, if that helps. I definitely recommend having a list handy; it’s certainly helped me a lot.
Why Weren’t We Taught These Things?
Why were these the subjects in our education that went overlooked? We find an increasing rise in our responsibilities as we get older and realize all of the things we weren’t taught. Home economics classes used to cover a lot of this, from baking to sewing on a button. However, because of the introduction of STEM and college-prep courses, home economics was phased out.
That still doesn’t answer the question, however: why didn’t our parents teach us these things?
It probably just didn’t even occur to them, to be entirely honest. They may not have realized we weren’t being taught these skills because they’d had home economics classes growing up. Ultimately, this leads to a lot of calling home to say, “Hey, Mom, how do you get a stain out of the carpet?” or “Mom, when does my Social Security number expire?”.
How can we remedy these gaps in our education, so to speak? Well, YouTube has a lot of wonderful tutorials on how to do various things. I even used it to fix my laptop recently! There’s a lot of great information online, which is one of the plus sides of growing up in the 2000s. The internet is our friend these days, so when you have questions about these life skills, be sure to use it when you need it.
