I've always felt that I was ill-prepared for adulthood. It's been a long road to learn some basics in every area of life. As for teaching my oldest, well, she's almost 18 and has lived with her dad for 10 years...I failed her. My little one, though, I still have time with her. I want to make sure she knows how to cook, clean, think,and earn a living for herself. And I sure would like to pick up knitting or quilting or something creative and useful...canning...gardening...just don't know where to start, so I pick up skills and info as different topics grab my attention...

You got skillz. I'm jealous. :/

My step-daughter off to college called her mother angrily and complained that mother never told her BBQ sauce came in a jar. It was always homemade at home. She was embarrassed, we were quite the opposite.

I don't get not trying to teach your child everything you know, earlier than you were taught it. I mean, isn't that how progress works? Once they know everything you know, hopefully at a much younger age than you are, they can dedicate the rest of their life to learning new stuff you didn't know so that their knowledge is more vast.

Nah, I'll show my kids (and the skids, for that matter) something if they want to learn it. But I'm not really making a list of things to teach them. Actually, the only thing I REALLY plan on teaching my kids is how to find things out and learn for themselves - once you've got that, you can learn anything. It's surprisingly uncommon, or at least 2 out of my 3 SD's don't know how to learn on their own. They have to have someone standing over them and giving them step by step instructions, or they just won't do things. My youngest SD (maybe I got to her early enough? *lol*), she's more willing to teach herself things, to try to figure things out for herself. Just like your cooking, you get some spectacular failures that way, and that's OK. You also completely master what it is you're trying to learn.

I was lucky. My Dad went to a boarding school and learned...well pretty much everything....from how to fight to how to sew on a button. He taught me the basics at a young age. So by the time I was 12, I could cook, iron, pump gas in the car, babysit, do basic yoga (yes you read that right).

And yes, I learned how to make a tie.

If you Google "What every man should know" you will get a slew of hits but most of the "basic" skills seem to fall into these categories:

1) How to treat a lady
2) How to dress appropriately for an occassion
3) How to introduce yourself (handshake, smile, etc.)
4) How to operate and maintain tools/cars
5) How to manage your money
6) (and this I consider most important) How to cook!

ETA: Basic survival skills should be in the list too, but there is a large disparity here. Some sites seem to suggest that ALL MEN should know how to hunt and skin game while others suggest knowing how to tell which way is north without the use of a compass is enough...

I'd be satisfied if someone just taught SS13 basic respect.

sadly, we have entered an era where people pay others to do everything for them. no longer do "we" (as a society) do the following:

1. cut our kids hair
2. do our own nails/hair
3. cook meals
4. clean our own homes
5. mow our own lawns
6. teach our kids how to swim
7. entertain our kids in the summer
8. iron (that's what dry cleaners do) and many farm out laundry to wash/dry/fold service

people spend good, hard earned money to do these things.

My SD is soon to be 4 and being English I've taught her one of the important things; how to make a good cup of tea!
Naturally she needs assistance but hey

Ill post back in 10 years and see how we did lol