 |
| My girls many moons ago. I love love love this pic b/c it was jus after my niece, Seflee, chopped Trinity's bangs off to her scalp with a pair of scissors. |
If you are anything like me as a parent, you spend an inordinate amount of time worrying over whether or not your kids will grow into strong, well-adjusted, responsible members of society. When I joke that I want my kids to be moved out FOR GOOD by 18 it isn't because I hate them, it is, in fact because I love them so much.
With that in mind, my husband, Mark, and I put together a list driving home from Lubbock a while back on the 23 things our girls need to be able to do to qualify for "ADULT" status. Mark and I are committed to teaching them each one. *There will be no trophy at the completion of this list but a pat on the back and the charge:
"Now go get a job and don't be a leech on society"
(Yes we are an inspirational couple aren't we?)
This is not a VALUES list per se, but underlying many of these items are some fundamental values that we celebrate: independence, resourcefulness, thoughtfulness, and the ability to conduct oneself with confidence and ease.
1. Do Laundry, Iron, Treat Stains
2. Cook Five Meals
3. Boil an Egg. Scramble an Egg. Fry an Egg. (We eat a lot of eggs at our house)
4. Host a lovely dinner party
5. Book travel and get good deals
6. Create and use a budget
7. Clean house. Deep clean house
8. Simple Car Maintenance
9. Chop vegetables the right way using impressive knife skills
10. Simple Home Maintenance: Change air filters, covering faucets in winter, etc, etc.
11. Simple emergency remedies for burns, cuts, etc.
12. Negotiate and deal with customer service, create paper trails for future issues
13. File Taxes
14. Buy Produce
15. Create a jamming play list for a party.
16. Pick a nice and affordable bottle of wine for a dinner
17. Know, judge, purchase different kinds of meat.
18. Know the order of poker hands from highest to lowest
19. Two Step and Jitter Bug
20. Basic (and oh so very important) business, social, dining etiquette. How to shake hands, make introductions, etc.
21. The basic rules of a football and baseball game
22. Cook on gas and charcoal grill
23. Age a White Tail Deer, Clean a deer
Just before their 18th birthday, there will be an intensive three day exam to see if they pass the list of 23 items. I mean INTENSE. For every item they cannot complete, we will take away $1,000 from their college fund. I am kidding. Or am I?
As I look over the list, here is where I think we are at: at 14 and 12, the girls could do about 7 maybe 8 of these items. Luckily, we have a few more years to cover things like car and home maintenance, as well have a few games of Texas Hold Em'.
What did I leave off the list? I would love to know what you would add.
1 comment:
Yes to all of this list. I mean, I don't know how to clean a deer, but I don't ever in my life plan on doing that, so I am at peace with my ignorance.
I would add one. Have basic time management skills. To start, have a preferred way to keep track of one's schedule. Some people need a planner, while for some people (i.e., me), a planner is just one more thing to do, and the calendar on my phone will suffice. But have one. Second, have a realistic idea of how much time certain tasks require (i.e, know that unless you are a very speedy writer, that 8-page research paper is going to take more than five hours to write). This is the skill that most of my students are missing as they enter college, and it's the one that will probably serve them the best.
Post a Comment