Little things you realize you haven't taught your kids

[Ottakee]

My friend realized that her kids didn't know their address.

[Guest]

Only my daughter knows her middle name. Huh? What? How did I forget to tell these kids their NAMES?

I had something similar, where my son didn't know how to spell his middle name. I don't recall his age at the time, but it was by far old enough to have known how to spell "William."

[DawnM]

I somehow completely missed teaching the word "repetition."  Repeat, they know, but not repetition???

 

DD needed physical therapy and was thrilled because she only had 5 short exercises to do - the fact that she was told to do # repetitions completely escaped her. 

 

 

I interviewed for an elementary counseling position recently.  I was told that when you do groups in Elem. School (I have only worked with secondary in the past) you have to ask them if they know what confidentiality means.  Usually they say, "Yes, it means you have confidence!"

 

Glad someone told me that!  

[Leav97]

Now see THAT I don't agree with. No one should be forced to tip a certain %. IMO Tipping is based on the service received. I know many friends in college who worked in the food industry who thought the same. 

 

And very very often the service received in a large group is not as good. I've been in large groups where we were pretty much ignored by the staff and had to take our own drinks up to the counter for refills. Plus especially with the whole mandatory gratuity thing that a lot of places do. Tipping on top of that - no way. 

 

If they have a problem with the service, they are required to take it up with the coach before skipping the tip.  They generally sit in groups of 4 so there isn't a mandatory gratuity.  The requirement was a minimum of 10%.  Very basic level.

[Susan in KY]

DS didn't know his zip code the first time he took the PSAT. We never got the results.

 

Also, they didn't know to always dial 1 as the country code here in the US from a landline. We don't have a landline so usually don't need the country code.

 

I have a friend whose son (an MK raised in Africa; this was years ago) had no idea how to call long distance from a payphone. Apparently he had a miserable first month at college until they finally called him!

[Guest]

Yes, a tip fail here, also, although the other extreme.

 

DS15 asked to borrow $10 to run to the corner soda shop (yes, we have an old-time burger and milkshake shop in our small town a couple blocks from school) with friends. Planned to get a $3.50 milkshake. When he returned I asked for the change, expecting a $5 bill. He sheepishly said he had no change. Why? Other kids were paying with $5 bills and telling the waitress to "keep the change." So when she came around to him he magnanimously said, "Keep the change." It was minutes later before he realized why she gave him such a warm thank-you.

Hahaha! I totally was that kid as a teen - I didn't have a good concept of the tipping thing :p

[abcmommy]

My third child had never been taught to tie her shoes.  When she was 9 or 10 we taught her in Kohls in about two minutes.  She had never had shoes with ties I guess.

[EmseB]

My almost 9yo asked me what the Constitution is yesterday.

 

When I explained it, he said, "Oh yes, maybe I did read about that somewhere."

 

Maybe.

[Arcadia]

My kids get hubby and my cellphone numbers (no landline) jumbled up but they know our email addresses correctly. They know how to Skype or FaceTime us a lot better than how to call us. Their outside class instructors all have our cellphone numbers thankfully.

 

My friend realized that her kids didn't know their address.

My kids don't remember the full residential address despite teaching them from kindergarten. I had to stick an address label each to their pencil box so they can copy for AMC 10/12 scantron purposes.

Their ACT/SAT admission tickets have their address so no worries there.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Mine seem to not have enough strength to open anything. New water bottles or anything with a plastic screw top cap, and ziploc bags are all extremely difficult.  

 

Don't forget Capri Suns! A couple of summers ago I bought our first pack and they couldn't figure it out either. My oldest, who had been to ps, was familiar with them. 

 

 

My 4yo asked DH to put the straw in her capri sun.  He poked it through both layers of plastic and out the back side of the thing and then couldn't figure out why the juice wasn't flowing.  So...  tricky.  

 

My kids don't know phone numbers, birthday, middle names, or the capital of the country we live in.  Oops.

[Amber in SJ]

I am making a list of these things to check.

 

Amber in SJ

[Guest]

My third child had never been taught to tie her shoes.  When she was 9 or 10 we taught her in Kohls in about two minutes.  She had never had shoes with ties I guess.

 

Some may call that an oversight, but I call that brilliant. In fact now I'm considering delaying the whole tying shoes thing if it can be taught in two minutes versus weeks of crying and frustration! :) 

[Junie]

Some may call that an oversight, but I call that brilliant. In fact now I'm considering delaying the whole tying shoes thing if it can be taught in two minutes versus weeks of crying and frustration! :)

 

Ds15 didn't learn to ride a bike until he was 9-ish.  It only took about 15 minutes.

[rwilk]

DD4 just showed today that she has no clue how one would use a landline style phone.  There was some toy she was playing with at OT where she was supposed to hit certain buttons---it then told her to pick up the phone.  Instead of picking up the handset, she picked up the entire toy and for the life of her couldn't figure out where she was going wrong. Embarassing.

 

I was always so focused on making sure she knew my phone number/her address in case she needed the information, it never occured to me that she wouldn't understand the basic operation of a phone. 

[Rebel Yell]

When DD was 11, I discovered she had no idea that canned tuna was fish. She said she just assumed it was "some kind of mammal."

 

You must be only people in the world who don't call it "tuna fish" as in "tuna fish sandwich" or "tuna fish casserole." 🙄

 

Drives me nuts, but everyone around here calls it that.

 

So of course we joke about having "chicken bird" "hamburger cow" "veggie burger veggies" or "mashed potatoes potatoes" for dinner. 😎

Edited June 18, 2016 by Rebel Yell

[creekmom]

When my ds was getting ready to start public high school after being homeschooled all his life, he asked me, "So, when do I have recess?" 😂 I was soooooo thankful he didn't ask the teacher that question in front of the class!!

[J-rap]

My oldest apparently only learned at age 25 that when you send a letter through the mail locally (so sending it to someone in the same town as yourself), you still need to use a stamp!??  

 

 

[lllll]

nm

Edited November 30, 2016 by cathey