s/o of Things you were stunned to realize your kids didn't know

[nukeswife]

I was quite surprised to find out a week ago that my 13 y/o has no idea how to rip a paper out of a spiral bound book without tearing the top of the paper to shreds or mangling said paper.

 

This was his GWG workbook, and all the papers for the first 7 lessons are all mangled at the top.

 

So what things have you come across that you never thought you had to "teach"?

[linders]

How to write on notebook paper. Now, I don't mean which side of the paper, I can understand that issue. But DS9, a bright 4th grader, recently wrote sideways across the lines when I had him do something quick. He normally types assignments (like history narrations) or writes in books. And he writes on the lines in his journal, for heavens sake. But a single sheet of paper? Perpendicular to the actual lines. No, honey.

[AimeeM]

I didn't realize how badly we had neglected geograpy until my dd (11) acted surprised when I told her that paris was in france... and that they spoke french in france...

And every time she asks what the capitol of a state is, I cringe (a lot). Lol.

[Belacqua]

Funny how many of these are paper related...I had to stifle laughter when I watched my teen open an envelope. The onslaught of post-PSAT college mail has effectively made the point that my kid doesn't get a whole lot of mail in envelopes; the thing was in shreds.

[SKL]

I'm still shocked that my 6yo did not know that birds have two legs. (Never four.)

[aggieamy]

We were having a discussion on the Axis powers and Allies during WWII and which countries belonged to each group. She asked me what side the people in Antartica fought for. :confused1: I told her that nobody lived in Antartica and she said that she meant the Eskimos in Antartica. Nope ... Eskimos don't live in Antartica either. Nobody lives in Antartica. Guess we missed that chapter in geography.

[nukeswife]

Another one from my family was when my dh explained to my daughter that when we were her age (11) cable was fairly new, so before that we had only like 3-5 channels and you actually had to get up to change the channel. Although she was agast when she heard that the first remote control my family had for a cable box was actually corded. Yep that's right it plugged into the box like a phone plugs into the wall and had like a 30ft. cord on it.

[Gentlemommy]

The Pledge of Allegiance. (hangs head in shame lol)

[SKL]

I find that my kids miss a lot of points on phonics pages where they are supposed to say what sound they hear in the word pictured. Words like nurse (I'm fairly sure my kids assumed she was a doctor), newspaper, and vase come to mind, but there are many others. The other day my dd6 was reading a book about baseball and "pitcher" was a new word to her. She pretty much had no clue about the game. (Bad mommy!)

[SKL]

My kids are still rusty on US coins/bills, because I never use them. I always shop with plastic or online.

[Hypatia.]

DS8: "Look mommy, this phone is attached!" when he saw a (corded) courtesy phone in the store. He thought the cord was there to keep someone from stealing the phone.

 

A couple months ago I was getting air in one of the tires and we were parked next to a pay phone. He looked at it strangely and said "Mommy, what's THAT?"

[Χά�ων]

DS is just now learning the days of the week. He never actually knew the day despite having very specific things on each day (vision therapy on Wednesday, Speed Skating on Friday). When asked what day tomorrow is he always said "Friday". I drill him on this every single day now. It has taken him longer to learn the days of the week than it did to learn the order of the planets and he thought I was torturing him with that.

 

 

 

 

 

[JessReplanted]

We were having a discussion on the Axis powers and Allies during WWII and which countries belonged to each group. She asked me what side the people in Antartica fought for. :confused1: I told her that nobody lived in Antartica and she said that she meant the Eskimos in Antartica. Nope ... Eskimos don't live in Antartica either. Nobody lives in Antartica. Guess we missed that chapter in geography.

 

This is great! :laugh:

[4kidlets4me]

My oldest called a friend today and got a busy signal. She listened to it for a few seconds then told me my phone was broke because it was making a weird noise. I guess with call waiting and voicemail she's never heard a busy signal before!

[Kareni]

I remember a discussion of an extra large CD some years ago. (That was a 33 1/3 rpm record!)

 

She (now a college student) does know what a rotary phone is as she recalls that Grandmom had one.

 

Ah, and I remember her asking once why veterinarians were so often out of work. She'd just seen a man on a corner with an "out of work vet" sign.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Sisyphus]

The alphabet song!

 

I never taught it to my kids, just phonics, and both of them had an unpleasant spot at age 7-8 when friends were singing it and they didn't know it. Oddly, they both knew alphabetical order, minus the sing song, but not the tune or song. I can't just "say" the alphabet, I must sing it, but they can.

 

You'd think after it happened to ky oldest I would have ensured my youngest knew the tune, but nope- caught put at the playground as the new kid who didn't know the alphabet song in second grade.

 

I'm a terrible mother.