S/O Yeah, we need to work on life skills - for Parents

[GypsieFamily]

OK, I've got a few confessions.

 

I hate turning on a gas stove if I have to light it with a lighter. I'm just too scared. Actually, I hate matches in general. I just hate the idea of having fire that close to my skin and getting closer, and I get so panicky I just can't strike it.

 

I hate cooking. I can do it, I just hate it. DH, Peter and Susan all like cooking so they do it. I might cook once every week or two. Usually I play with Edmund and Lucy while I supervise and direct Peter and Susan on the cooking. The other night we had neighbours in the campground so I went over to chat, and was rather surprized when Peter and Susan called me in for dinner (chicken parmajarma and three veg).

 

These few are more specific to living in our RV but...

 

 

 

• I had to learn how to syphen water from one tank to another and then into the caravan this month. My first two attempts left me drenched through to the skin.
  
• I had to refill the generator with petrol this week. I think I wore more petrol than went in. :/
  

 

[Mama Geek]

My two things that I am awful at are starting engines and fixing the toilet when it runs.

[Rosie_0801]

I don't know lots of things! My dad always insisted we should learn this, that and the other, but he was rather less than patient and rather colourful in his language. Unsurprisingly, whenever anything needed doing, we were not there to joyfully learn, we were up a tree in the backyard or hiding in our rooms so as to stay out of his way! I was willing to learn to mow, but he wouldn't let us because he didn't want to pay chiropractic bills afterwards. Our place was on a significant slope and he never mowed until the grass was knee high, so I'd have conceded he had a point if it wasn't for the flat part and he wouldn't let us mow that either!

 

I don't know how to change a washer either. Ever since I've moved out, we seem to have moved house before any needed changing so I've not had to learn. I do feel pathetic about that. :lol: I don't know how to fix anything in my car any more, because most of the bits look different to my old car. I do know which tool to use to change spark plugs, even though I don't know where the spark plugs are any more. :lol:

 

I can light gas stoves and change lightbulbs. I can change tyres in theory. :D In practice the bolts are usually done up so tight I can't get them off. I feel pathetic having to get someone else to do that...

 

Rosie

Edited May 16, 2011 by Rosie_0801

[Crissy]

I am embarrassed to admit how many things we hire out. My father NEVER hired anyone to build or repair anything in our home when I was growing up, but neither my husband nor I know how to fix anything.

[GypsieFamily]

I didn't even think about changing a washer or changing a tyre, or a fuse. I can't do any of them. Actually, I can fill the car up, but beyond that I'm a bit useless. I have checked the water before, too. That's about the extent of it.

 

I can mow ... if someone else starts the lawnmower for me, because even though I know how to do this, it just never seems to work. :confused:

[MorganClassicalPrep]

I'll go ahead and admit that I have next to no practical life skills and common sense.

 

Cooking is a disaster (as you all heard about. Although.. I'm making crock pot tacos tomorrow.. should be... exciting! :lol:)

Cleaning is.... well. I'm pretty much the least organized person I know. House is clean but cluttered, car should probably be condemned. Laundry builds until I don't have anything left to wear.

Doctor's appointments, dentist appointments, all get forgotten.

We waste an embarrasingly large amount of food. I don't know how long leftovers are good for, so most get thrown away. Plus I regularly forget about meat and it ends up going bad before I cook it.

 

I'm good at school. Research. Writing. And educating my daughter. Everything else is a crap-shoot.:tongue_smilie:

[Rosie_0801]

Actually, I can fill the car up :confused:

 

Ha! I had to teach dh to do that! He doesn't drive, so somehow never learned! We used to fill the car as kids, but I guess he never did. Now he does it whenever we are out together and need petrol. I think it makes him feel manly. :)

 

Rosie

[Cinder]

I can light gas stoves and change lightbulbs. I can change tyres in theory. :D In practice the bolts are usually done up so tight I can't get them off.

 

:lol: This is me, too! Back when I was a kid we had to light the gas oven with a match--the stove had a pilot light. My aunt, who lived in the next apartment would always call me over to light her oven for her. Holding the match to the gas terrified her.

 

I've always claimed to be mechanically declined--because I am. Once I bought a hose-reel that had to be put together. I thought, how hard could it be? Well, I messed it up and dh had to take a hacksaw to it and buy new parts before he could put it together properly. :tongue_smilie:

[Jean in Newcastle]

I can't do handy stuff that requires strength but I can usually google and figure stuff out and then I have ds13 do it! We even took apart the dishwasher, cleaned it out and then put it back together! But the more feminine life skills (shopping for clothes, make up, shoes. . .) leaves me quivering in fright!:lol:

[elegantlion]

My dh can do anything, I try not to take it for granted.

 

I, otoh, can not cook. I hate to cook. I can not multi task in the kitchen, I never worked in a restaurant. Thankfully ds is old enough to be a real help. Dh used to cook in a restaurant, he still tells me how to cook. :glare:

 

I don't like to clean. I am the queen of excuses and could get out of anything growing up. My mom would rather do it herself than teach us how. I'm working on not making that mistake with ds.

 

I hate drive thrus. I almost refuse to go through them. I have trouble hearing the people and then I feel like a dork because I have to ask them to repeat their words.

[Virg]

Umm I don't know how to pump gas. I lived in Oregon my whole life and when we took road trips someone else did it. Now we have been in Utah for a few weeks and so far my boys have done it for me. I suppose I will have to learn soon if I am going to live out of Oregon.

[nd293]

Learning new things is so much easier with You Tube... I find watching a video of how it is done much more instructive than reading about it. This year I've learned to use a mitre and circular saw, and how to lay a floating floor, and You Tube was a great help in each case.

[RoughCollie]

I used to have to call DH every time I put gas in my car. Now, I finally remember how to do it. This has happened just in the last year!

 

I grew up in a family in which girls did not do any yard work, home repair, painting, taking out the trash, or putting gas in cars or anything to do with cars except for driving them. That is all a man's work. Except for growing flowers, women could do that. Not roses, though -- too much digging.

 

When my brother was 9, he started doing yard work for people for money. He was rolling in dough! I was 6 years older than he, and when I was 12, I asked to be allowed to rake leaves for people to earn money, and my dad had a conniption fit at the thought. The answer was no!

 

I was 20-something when my dad finally allowed me to mow one strip of lawn, and I had to beg. I didn't mow again until 3 years ago.

 

My grandpa wouldn't let me ride in his truck -- another thing that young ladies don't do. I was 19 before I ever got to ride in a pickup truck.

 

I don't have many life skills beyond traditional homemaking, child-rearing, and party planning. I can change a tire on a car, though. I followed the instructions in the owner's manual. Shocked the you know what out of my first husband -- I did it to play a joke on him. He didn't know how that tire got changed. I think the only reason he believed me was that there was no one else around to do it.

Edited May 16, 2011 by RoughCollie

[CalicoKat]

Pressure cookers terrify me. My mom scared me silly as a young girl when she told me horror stories of the things blowing up. I won't use one ever.

[GypsieFamily]

I'm glad I'm not the only one!

[Joyofsixreboot]

I am good on grown-up things but DH is NOT! I try to show the kids but they are not terribly interested. I'm not sure if dh's parents were at all handy. It amuses the neighbors to see me on the roof while dh holds the ladder.

[Dawn in OH]

 

I hate turning on a gas stove if I have to light it with a lighter. I'm just too scared. Actually, I hate matches in general. I just hate the idea of having fire that close to my skin and getting closer, and I get so panicky I just can't strike it.

 

 

 

I'm the same way. But my way around this is one of those lighters with the long nose. I'm fine with that. It's the matches that scare me.

 

I'm fairly afraid of lighting a propane grill. That's okay though, grilling is a man's work!

[sassenach]

I'm pretty sure that I could do just about anything, as long as there was a youTube instructional video to show me how. However, I haven't really had to test that theory!

[Mejane]

I won't climb a ladder, so anything that's more than step-stool height off the ground gets done by someone else.

 

I also hate blowing up balloons. :blush:

[fairfarmhand]

OK, I've got a few confessions.

 

I hate turning on a gas stove if I have to light it with a lighter. I'm just too scared. Actually, I hate matches in general. I just hate the idea of having fire that close to my skin and getting closer, and I get so panicky I just can't strike it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

have you used a lighter like this one?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-Utility-Lighter-2-Pack/13848640?sourceid=1500000000000003260410&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=13848640

[elise1mds]

I'm another fearless type. My dad never had a son, and my sister was a very feminine person with a more delicate bone structure, so I was the one relegated to helping Dad whenever anything required more than one person. I scaled and gutted fish, helped re-roof the house, moved furniture (including a piano), and worked - semi-professionally - as a lawn mower by the time I was 13 or 14. I even used an electric shrub trimmer and weedeater. When four piglets got dumped by our mailbox, I wrangled them while Dad administered vaccines. My mom got a job working evenings when I was about 14, so I had to learn to cook basic meals. I was a horrible cook for a long, long time, but my dad always just laughed when I read "t." as tablespoon or burned things so badly the smoke alarm went off. When I did fix meals properly, Dad was kind enough to say that they were better than my mom's. This isn't to say that we didn't fight - our fights were epic - but he taught me a lot. I can change a tire and oil. I can disable an engine (Dad thought this was an essential skill for a dating girl), and I jump-started many cars in the high school parking lot because I was one of the few people with jumper cables who knew how to use them.

 

When I met DH, he was a city boy and I'd been raised in the country. DH had never used a riding lawn mower in his life and had no clue you could actually repair a toilet - he honestly thought that once they broke, they were dead forever! I took him to the hardware store and busted that myth. He's come a long way and actually fixed our stove last year, but once in a while he still gets that "it's broken" mentality when a repair is all that's needed. Last year our washing machine got off-kilter, and he thought we needed a new one. I stuck a wedge under the offending corner, and voila! Good as new ;) Now if only I could convince him that his hearing is worse than mine and I actually *can* hear noises coming from car engines... ;)

[mommymilkies]

:lol: I so need a class in this. I have zero practical knowledge about things like cleaning gutters, house upkeep, car maintenance, etc. I need a how-to book!

[twoforjoy]

I hate to pump gas and will avoid it if in any way possible. It makes me very flustered. I grew up in NJ, where you don't pump your own gas, and I was 22 before I ever had to pump gas for myself, when we moved to MI. I still think of pumping gas as something best left to professionals.

 

I only learned about eight months ago how to run a rinse cycle in my washing machine. I had no idea such a thing could be done. I thought you had to go through the entire cycle every time.

 

But every practical life skill I have, I taught myself. My mom was a great housekeeper, and my dad pitched in a lot, but they never really taught us how to do anything. Some things I've gotten relatively good at. I think I've become a pretty good cook, considering that I literally knew how to cook NOTHING when I left college. But there are other things, like getting stains out of clothing or doing mending, that I am totally hopeless at.

[TKDmom]

We couldn't figure out how to change our oven light when it burned out. We haven't been able to use it for...5 years. Finally, this weekend, dh looked up a diagram of the parts for our oven and we managed to change it.

 

I also cleaned to oven for the first time ever. It's like a whole new oven!

[WarriorMama]

My MIL was over once because we were doing Christmas baking together, and my oven suddenly stopped working in between batches of cookies.

 

MIL: "It must have blown a fuse."

Me: "OVENS have FUSES?!?!?!

 

:lol:

 

Anyway, I think I've got everybody beat, because I didn't learn how to drive until I was in my late twenties and had three kids (so...just a few months ago, lol). :tongue_smilie:

[dm379]

I have NO talent at all when it comes to anything that uses tools. A few months ago I tried putting a bookshelf together and it came out so bad dh thought I had screwed it up on purpose. And this was with a friend's help.

[Remudamom]

Ladies, ladies. If I can learn to run a home anyone can. I grew up doing nothing. I did not even have to make my own bed. Never cooked, never ironed, never had a garden. Never washed, folded or put away clothes. Never cleaned a bathroom.

 

Even when I was in college mom sent the help over to clean my apartment.

 

This morning I cooked three meals before nine, the house is clean and the laundry almost finished and I'm on my way out to clean the chicken house. And I'm OLD.

 

eta- have to admit anytime I try to sew something it's disastrous.

[Jayne J]

I have never in all my born days mowed a lawn, nor started a lawnmower. I feel pretty confident that I could, but why ruin a good thing? :D

 

(I am fairly handy when I have to be but tend to prefer stereotypically girl stuff--I can sew on any number of buttons, but generally hit my finger and bend the nail when hanging a picture. Doesn't stop me from trying though. Thankfully dh is great at fixing holes in the drywall and unbending nails...)

[Mejane]

I have never in all my born days mowed a lawn, nor started a lawnmower. I feel pretty confident that I could, but why ruin a good thing? :D

 

 

Don't do it! It'll become your job for life.

[Remudamom]

Don't do it! It'll become your job for life.

 

I love to mow. Unfortunately so does one dd. Dixon mowers are fun!

[Mejane]

I love to mow. Unfortunately so does one dd. Dixon mowers are fun!

 

Yabbut, it would just get added to my list of chores with nothing subtracted. Scr*w that. :D

[*Inna*]

I had a friend who was afraid of lighting a gas stove. She used to light a long spaghetti with a match and then light the burner. It was very entertaining to watch. :tongue_smilie:

 

I can do anything around the house if I have the instruction manual. My mom taught me well to cook, clean, wash, iron etc.

 

I'm afraid of sewing machine. :001_huh:

 

I can pump gas and wash the car. That's it. I could open the hood and stand there for some time, peering inside, but it doesn't bring any results. :tongue_smilie:

[*Inna*]

 

Yabbut, it would just get added to my list of chores with nothing subtracted. Scr*w that. :D

:lol:

[Amber in SJ]

I left my home at 17 with ZERO life skills. I couldn't even drive (still can't.)

 

Nowadays I can cook anything, but my laundry and other cleaning skills are sub-par.

 

At 16 Dh & his dad built a house from digging the basement on up, so he can do anything. I can fix nothing. My last attempt to fix something in the bathroom involved taking a hammer to the knob in the shower. Needless to say I am banned from home repairs.

 

On the other hand, I did let down a hem on a pretty dress for one daughter and add a couple of inches of eyelet trim to another dress for another daughter. That has to be worth something, right?

 

I learned how to pump gas the same day my 16yo dd did. It was like the stooges at the gas station.

 

I cannot keep plants alive at all, but I keep trying & every year my garden does a little bit better.

 

Yeah, I need some remedial life skills.

 

Amber in SJ

[Rosie_0801]

I am sure I can clean gutters, but dad wouldn't let me do that either. Yet I was allowed to climb a tree that was taller than the house. :lol:

 

Rosie

[RoughCollie]

eta- have to admit anytime I try to sew something it's disastrous.

 

In my case, anytime I have to grow something, it's a disaster. :001_smile:

[KC in KS]

I had a few lemons that I'd zested, but had no real use for the "innards" of. I decided to pitch them down the kitchen disposal to freshen it.

 

I chopped them into big chunks, then wedged them in.

 

Then -- my fatal mistake -- I thought that if I didn't turn on the water, it wouldn't dilute the lemon oil.

 

I now have a sink trap full of a big lump of minced lemon, and a completely non-draining sink. :glare: