Do Younger Generations Know How To Survive: Daily Life Skills Disappearing
Are Daily Life Survival Skills Lost To Younger Generations?
Earlier today I was clearing out notifications on my phone from another social media site when a video popped up about how the millennials (currently aged from 18-29) couldn't make a hard-boiled egg, had no idea how to change a flat tire on a vehicle or even knew how to sew a button on a shirt. Really? Am I the only person who finds this sad?
- Make a hard-boiled egg? Why do I need to know that? I can just go to the drive-through of Panera Bread and get one.
- Change a flat tire? Why Bother? I can call mom and dad's roadside service number.
- Sew a button on a shirt? Why bother? I can just buy a new shirt.
I am a very frugal, re-use and make-do kind of person and seeing this video (which I am still trying to find again as I wanted to share in this post) really made me cringe. I had taught all three of my now adult children how to cook (everything from grilled cheese to a full-fledged meatloaf, baked potato and salad dinner), how to clean everything in a house and how to use their cognitive thinking skills to make an item used for a different purpose.
Heck! When we were growing up and had received our drivers' permits, my dad MADE us change a tire. From hauling the spare out of the trunk to knowing how to use a tire iron. We had to change the oil on the car AND learn how to control a car that was in a skid from slippery and icy roads.
So what has happened to the newer generations?
Let's take a look at basic daily life skills (ones I learned in junior and senior high schools) that taught me the early phases of being self-reliant, frugal and self-sufficient.
Cooking
If you were to take ten high school seniors, or even college aged students to a kitchen; how many could successful cook a simple grilled cheese sandwich... that was edible?
According to tesh.com,
Another disappearing life skill: Cooking! Even though it’s trendy for a lot of young adults to watch cooking TV shows, like “Top Chef.” Studies show that most Millennials get their food from fast food restaurants or the prepared-food section of the grocery store.
Sewing
Once when my son was a senior in high school, we were all rushing around the house to get out the door and I found him sitting on the living room floor with my sewing box opened. He was sitting cross-legged and sewing a new button on his polo shirt. I almost stopped and asked him if he needed help, but I held back. If I did it for him, how would he ever learn?
Tesh.com says in regards to sewing that:
And the final disappearing life skill: Sewing on a button! It sounds incredibly basic, but because a lot of cash-strapped schools have scrapped home economics. So a lot of Millennials are keeping tailors and seamstresses in business because they don’t know how to do even simple tasks, like hemming pants or even sewing on a button
How about ironing? I can remember my grandma, my mom and myself spending hours ironing shirts, trousers and other miscellaneous items. In my grandma's house, Saturday was wash day and Saturday evening while she listened to the news, she would iron shirts, pillowcases and anything else under the sun. I was in charge of spraying the clothes with starch; for some unknown reason, I really enjoyed this job. But it also taught me how to iron. What setting the iron needed to be on and how much starch was needed. Grandma always nodded her head when she got the collars. The nod meant one more squirt of starch. She liked the collars real stiff.
It is so easy for people to just pick up their phones and order things. From pizzas being delivered to ordering a new shirt. Are people becoming too lazy? Are they so materialistic that they need more? One just isn't enough? Oh well... this shirt is too wrinkly... I'll just order a new one... I have an app for that...
And let's not get started on preserving food. Or repairing a storm door's screen that has a small tear. Or learning how to change a spark plug on the lawn mower.
What happens when these young adults move out and into their home or apartment? Money is tight. The budget is overwhelmed. Will they continue to rely on others to take care of their every need?
Sorry.. kind of a rant here, but I just had to get it off my chest. That video struck a nerve in me this morning.
Basic everyday life skills are not being taught to the younger generation, like it was years ago. It has become fast, I want it now, disposable world. Sad but true. I mean why read or go to the library, just google it right? Sad that amount of kids that can't do basic math, and are completely lost with out a calculator. Kids should be taught these skills at home and at school. Good (rant) post.
And speaking of the library... how many know what the Dewey Decimal system is?
Yes.. this is an instant-gratification world we live in now.
What a fantastic topic @goldendawne I strive to teach all my kids these very skills. My kids know how to garden, sew, knit, cook, etc, to be self sufficient. I had growing pains with the laundry and a few pink loads, (javex) but as my son said, hey mom pink socks are in even for the dudes. LOL
See, those are all life skills to know. Not just to do, or have a hobby, but some day they will use them for survival every day.
This kind of thing blows me away. A few years ago, I overheard an argument between two young women. One of them was appalled that the other thought milk was from cows. “Cow milk is for baby cows. Humans drinking cow milk would be gross.” Are you kidding me?
Another moment that stopped me in my tracks: I was out with some friends, and one of them got a call from her daughter. Her grown daughter wanted to know how to make rice. My friend told her to read the box. The daughter explained that she was out of the boxed kind, and needed to know how to MAKE rice. Like from scratch.
(I know these are extreem examples.)
I think the problem starts with kids watching their parents replace a wrinkled shirt with a new one, and buying pre-boiled eggs. So many are being taught by bad example.
And I think we’ve started teaching kids what to think, rather than how to think. And I believe that started while I was still in school. When people know how to think, they can begin to see around corners and understand the consequences of wasted time, money and goods.
YES very true! I see it all the time also... so glad I took the time to teach my children the basics of life and survival. They're all adults now, married and with their own children. I t made my heart soar when my youngest daughter asked me for my homemade laundry recipe years ago to save money.
Funny but true! I've taught my kids all of the fundamental skills you have mentioned, plus some. I'm not sure how well it sunk in though lol. I don't think it's only millennials that need to be picked on, I know plenty of moran adults that lack basic survival skills :)
Only time will tell. All you can do is teach them and hope it's retained in their brain.
Rant away.. I am with you 100%... I've been teaching my girlfriends daughter to drive.. of course I'm a prick about it and am making her learn on my 5 speed instead of the automatic... I've already taught her to check the oil and fluids plus how to add more...
Cooking is a whole different Oprah show.. I can cook like Bobby Flay but she can't even get the the hang of boiling water.. she attempted grill cheese which set off the smoke detector... she tried making soup... fail.. burnt the shit out of it... I guess the fact that you don't need to cook on high is ununderstandable.. I've explained it several times. I gave up..
Obv they learned sewing from their mom.. I have a pair off shorts I've been needing a button sewed back on to for 2 months now..
In regards to your shorts needing a button... I can give my son a call! lol
Yeah, it's amazing how much when it comes to trying to teach someone something as simple as making a sandwich for lunch how bad it can turn out.
She's banned from the microwave after the Ramen incident..
I'm a millennial (just barely though as I'm 28) and while I can't speak for the American youth, all of my friends can do all of those things to varying degrees - at least as well as their parents' generation.
I think millennials often get a bad rep. Are there people in this age group lacking basic life skills? Sure! Were there people just like them in the former generation? Indeed. In some ways, I think this is how it goes, the older generations look at the younger and see all the decay.
I don't mean to detract from your rant! You're absolutely right that if what you stated is a reality for even say 20% of the American youth, then that spells trouble. I'm merely stating that while I think my peers here lack several life skills and basic knowledge (which I, as a homestead minded person define differently than city people), they can sew on a button, boil an egg and change a tire - we learn most of that in school here, even if we never learn it from our parents.
VERY true with this statement. I believe many do get bad reputation. Yes, there are some that can accomplish such tasks that I have always taken for granted of knowing.
Yes it does spell trouble. Maybe it is mostly here in the US... not sure. But I see it all the time. My kids are all millennials and they have friends who are in that category of not knowing how to take care of themselves. It is just sad.
That is sad.
Haha, I'm 30 and somewhat rankled that I still fall into the "millennial" umbrella. I have to say that among my peers (who I really don't hang out a lot with nowadays, it seems) a lot of these skills are vaguely present, but they are causes for bragging. A friend of mine used to brag--a lot--whenever she would change a tire or do maintenance on her own car. Though I think that many articles like the one you're referencing are made a little sensationalized by using the most pathetic examples, the truth is those people do exist. But so do a lot of "kids" who do know a lot, and just don't make a big deal about it.
Honestly, the generation I'm most dubious about are the kids who are around 12-14 years old right now. That was the age group I taught as a teacher, and they would complain about using physical books ("what's a 'glossary?'"), having to run ("I can't remember the last time I ran, actually."), and citing sources in their papers ("Is Google a source?").
WOW! Is google a reference? Yeah almost as much as wikipedia can be used when writing a term paper. Writing? Oh yeah... what's that? The old fashion way of texting!
...yeah. I taught middle school, and my husband taught high school. We both came home at night and exchanged incredulous stories.
...is it any coincidence that we're going to homeschool our boys?