Essential Life Skills: Home Care and Maintenance

You could neglect teaching your child basic home care and assume an attitude of “They can learn it when they need it.”

However, you would rob them of responsibility when they are young and burden them with extra learning when they are older.

Children need to have responsibilities in the form of helping around the house.  As they become older they need to become responsible for bigger jobs. This will form a habit that will follow them through their adult life.  They are then prepared to live on their own and not have the burden of learning home care as a young adult.

What should a young person be able to do as a young adult on their own?

Essential Life Skills: Car Care

Many teenagers count down the days until they can drive.

Whether they drive the family car or their own car, they need to know how to maintain and care for the car.  

Car care and maintenance should, ideally, be part of your driver education program.  If it wasn’t, be sure to teach your child the essentials before they head out on their own.

Essential Life Skills: Clothing Care

Sometimes young people leave home without the necessary life skills either because it is easier for the parent to do it herself, or the parent really enjoys doing things for their child.

Neither of those reasons is a good excuse for sending a young adult into the world unprepared.

Clothing care is an easy life skill for you to teach and for your child to learn.  Three essential areas of this skill are: