Preparing Your Child for Leaving Home (on indeed Staying at Home)

L

Leper

Registered User
Messages
2,009
I notice an interesting thread on the forum regarding choosing subjects for a 13 year old secondary school pupil. I thought back to the time where I started secondary school. At 13 you're young and the world is your oyster what possibly could go wrong. Hence this post and in no particular order:-

1. I recommend your child learns to cook even if it just boiled potatoes, vegetables, meat, bread etc. He/She won't starve on the first sally from home.
2. Personal Hygiene is important and can be the cause of conflict in sharing accommodation later.
3. Ownership of own space is something many of us don't contemplate, but it obviates the desires to depend on somebody else.
4. Sex Education:- The schools don't teach everything (and why should they?).
5. Conflict Resolving Skills and the need to compromise.
6. Alcohol Intake Ownership:- Appreciation of the positives and negatives are important. Many don't take in larger amounts of alcohol until they start university; yes, there are those who start earlier. I have no problem with either. Your child won't have problems with alcohol "Shor we never drank." Words often uttered without a scintilla of knowledge of what your teenager(s) is/are behaving.
7. Drugs:- I often wonder how intelligent people get hooked, but then again I often wonder.
8. Driving Skills:- Probably a must these days.
9. Value of Money:- Important.
10. General Attitude:- A good attitude can stop problems before they begin.
11. Honesty:- Speaks for itself.
12. Maintain Contact:- Loss of contact can cause problems.
13. Respect.
(If this on on wrong part of forum feel free to move).
 
Last edited:
Greta list Leper.
On the person hygiene I'd include washing your clothes as well as washing yourself. Cooking is very important, especially if you will be on a tight budget. People who say that fresh/good food is more expensive than processed food are morons.
 
I got sent to a Catholic Boarding school back in the 80's. My primary teacher at the time used to give those of us going there (and to the girls equivalent) lessons in how to sow buttons and the like because there would be no one there to do it for us. That stood to me.

And then I went to Uni and the change was staggering. Boarding school certainly did nothing to prepare me for girls but I got over that. I couldn't cook, iron a shirt but was never late for a lecture because I had no issues getting up after 5 years of a priest walking around ringing a big bell at half seven every morning.

So I would add food shopping and ironing to the list. Also make sure they are involved in something outside of school so they broaden their horizons, it'll help them make friends when they do leave.
 
Ironing, sewing on buttons etc are all things that you can learn from Youtube. I always say that if you can read and tell the time you can cook. The internet makes that much easier as well.
I moved out of home at 23 in the early 90's (got my first mortgage because I thought that EMU would cause a property boom) and didn't really know how to iron and wasn't great at laundry. Those are the sort of skills you can pick up in a few hours (read the label on the clothes; it's not hard).

I was amazed at how cheap food is. That was the big surprise; electricity, TV and Gas etc are relatively expensive but you can feed yourself well (at today's prices) for €25 a week.
 
No You Tube in the 80's, just a belt around the ear if the teacher wasn't happy !!

It is amazing what you can learn when you have to, I'd never changed a nappy until the first time I had to do my daughters. 14 years on and she survived that.
 
Thats right. No You Tube is right.
You just had to look and learn. No pampers either , cloth nappies tied with safety pins. But they survived and are now in their thirty's .
 
Peanuts20 said:
It is amazing what you can learn when you have to, I'd never changed a nappy until the first time I had to do my daughters. 14 years on and she survived that.
Click to expand...
The night feeds and then going into work were hard but the nappy changing etc was easy.
 
The night feeds were awkward alright and then taking over when you came home from work. One of ours was not too bad but the second one was hard work. Thank god for the rocking chair .....for both of us :)
 
joer said:
The night feeds were awkward alright and then taking over when you came home from work. One of ours was not too bad but the second one was hard work. Thank god for the rocking chair .....for both of us :)
Click to expand...
I was in idiot; I did all the night feeds on the first two and most of them on the next two.
 
Ill bet the children call you a very good idiot though all the same..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top