Basic skills - would you admit to lacking?

Chewbacca do you take private lessons? Love a sheepdog trial and have no intention of any sabotage, but the power, oh the power

Yes, car maintenance. Hopeless. I have also found as I get older I am more wary of backing the car and less confident as regards spatial awareness, particularly at night. Means I rarely drive after dark now even though the optician says I can.

No one taught me to cook (apart from one term of cookery when I was 13) but somehow I've managed to feed our lot quite well.
If in doubt YouTube - computer help, mending a food blender, etc

I taught myself to splice a rope with the aid of a book

Just looked on wiki knowhow to find out how to do the big whistle. Step by step instructions but still no more than a sigh and nearly choked myself in the process.

On one of my community groups, barely a week goes by without someone wanting buttons sewn on or hems sewn, trousers shortened. I have so far stopped myself from saying "buy some Bondaweb " etc!
I was taught many sewing skills by my mother who had been a seamstress, so made my own clothes from about the age of 10.
Many of my school friends learnt sewing skills at senior school when they had to do at least one year of a needlework class as well a cookery class.
When my son was in middle school they had "Food Technology " that barely taught them anything beyond beans on toast or making a pizza, so not sure where the technology came in! He was taught nothing about nutrition and then when he did "Crafts" they didn't sew, they glued!

@SueDonim
Neither of my DD’s can sew on a button. At least, they claim they can’t. hmm. They’re both left-handed (I’m not) and that is their claim to their ineptitude.

Being lefthanded is no excuse for not being able to do things... you just do them with the left hand!

I'm a leftie and was perfectly capable of sewing buttons until my MS and arthritis took over, I used to knit as well.

The thing with teaching someone to do things that are other-handed is to sit opposite them so that they see the mirror of what you're doing and can learn it their way around. I have 2 rh sons and they've done OK with my lh teaching.

I can sew on a button, but that's it. And yes, we did have sewing and knitting at school, but I was totally useless at it. I remember the knitting with horror - we had to knit a simple square. Without a word of a lie, everyone else in the class had finished theirs and I hadn't even got mine cast on. My mother tried repeatedly to teach me, even when I was pregnant with my daughter, and eventually gave up in disgust. I just can't seem to co-ordinate my hands to do sewing or knitting properly, although I can do other complicated tasks which require manual dexterity quite easily.

It is a shame isn’t jaylucy, these basic skills should be taught at school.
We had an hour a week of needlework then swapped half way through the year to cookery for the first three years of high school. The boys had woodwork and metalwork.
Now I’d like to see all pupils taking all four subjects.
Nutrition should be part of the cookery lessons and everyone should know how to sew on a button or turn up a hem before leaving school.
I’d also like to see a bit of time given to basic parenting skills. So much child cruelty and neglect in our society today.

I too have learned how to do lots of things by you tube videos. I did all of the wallpapering by myself over the years - DH did the battering if he was available. I’ve even done the staircase. My new house has high ceilings so it would be more difficult now. I taught myself to crochet in my teens. There are lots of books and videos for that. As you ladies would agree, there’s great satisfaction in achieving independence and seeing the results. Mind you, when up the ladder the other day trying to get the cover off the smoke alarm to change the battery, I thought I was going to pull the ceiling down!

Many of my school friends learnt sewing skills at senior school when they had to do at least one year of a needlework class as well a cookery class.

jaylucy I had to do one year of needlework and cookery at senior school and the total sum of my achievements was one shapeless seersucker nightdress stitched by hand, scrambled eggs and some fairy cakes. I can't remember learning anything particularly useful and did more at primary school.

I was so happy to switch to Latin - much more enjoyable ?

LauraNorder

Just looked on wiki knowhow to find out how to do the big whistle. Step by step instructions but still no more than a sigh and nearly choked myself in the process.

I'm sure you have to have the right kind of teeth.
Mine aren't

It all depends who was asking. I could sew - and knit even crochet - in my youth but now my fingers aren't so dexterous and I struggle to thread a needle. It may be a lack of physical ability, perhaps due to arthritis, rather than not knowing how to do some task.
Someone at home on her own might be happy to sew buttoms - or even nametapes -remember them? on a school uniform for a friend's kids. Just to a have a chat and a cuppa especially during lockdown.

I can't sing or dance as I have no sense of timing. I can knit crochet a little, do embroidery. I love baking, I just made Banana and chocolate muffins and a tray of shortbread. I can iron but don't. I can check tyre pressures and put air in if necessary. I enjoy cooking but am not up for anything too fancy( no dinner party stuff ). My worst nightmare is remembering names and faces.

P

I knit, crochet, sew and make my own greetings cards. My daughter has never shown an interest in anything of this nature and would readily admit to not being able to sew on a button, preferring to pass items on to me. I'm sure if I wasn't so readily available she'd give it a go.

I used to be quite handy, have always been able to cook and do basic DIY and the car before it all became electronic, and I can sew a button on but am hopeless at any other sewing/knitting/crocheting! I can ride a horse and used to run a fleet of lorries and cars and am also a trained nurse, so reasonably practical but give me a TV to set up and am useless!!

Same as Grandma70 I have few practical skills but I'm very good at organising other people to do things.

Difficult to believe that sewing on a button is beyond someone's capabilities unless of course they are handicapped or injured. Many years ago at the office I lost a button on my
right cuff ( I'm right handed) and one of the boys in the office sewed it on for me very proficiently and it was a first for him. I would be ashamed to post a request for this.

I can sew on a button/s mend a hem if some stitching has come out also remember having to sew my sons school blazer pockets or mend his school trousers as boys always were harder on their clothes than the girls.

I was amazed this morning when watching Loraine Kelly on TV and she was talking to someone on the show Loraine explained she never cooks at all at home she cannot cook and she has never learnt. It went through my mind I wonder who does all the food catering in her house as she has a daughter and husband.
I can put together some decent meals although I admit to not be a good baker, I would like to bake better cakes and puddings.

I've been in my own for years now and can look after the house and garden pretty well. I can use a drill, decorate, build flat packs, sew, etc, but I do get a guy to have a look over my car before it goes for its MOT, although I can check tyre pressure, etc. When I left my ex he text me asking how to turn on the mower, think that says it all.

Lorraine kelly wont need to cook, I wouldnt be cooking in her shoes either, she has a different skill that means she doesnt have to.
I wouldnt have wanted my children to be taught needlework to be honest, I think I have probably sewn a button on a handful of times in my life and I have never needed to sew anything else. IT skills, budgeting, first aid, information about tax, etc are much more important.

I can knit and sew basic things but.... i just can not master crocheting. A lady i know does the most delicate items in crochet and many other items of clothing, she tried to teach me but i feel all cack handed when i try.
I use to do all the decorating with my DH but due to health issues now have to get a decorator in, once the rooms in my home are completed that will be it till i pop my clogs, the cost is sooo expensive. Likewise with the garden digging is beyond me. I am currently trying to find someone to make ashed base for me as my shed needs renewing, it is a difficult task to find someone.

Callistemon

the M should have helped too LauraNorder
But why are they in the same slot?

P and R have their own slots.

Give me a gear stick any day!

What's a gearstick?

I can swim… sort of. I can do a width but only if I go really fast, because somehow I struggle to keep my legs up in the water. By the time I get across to the other side I am almost walking! I am hopeless at anything I don’t enjoy, decorating and gardening, car maintenance. But I am really good at knitting and crochet, even design my own patterns. I used to iron for people and some of them described my work as perfect. I can draw and write reasonably well, but my house is a tip because I hate housework and I am messy.

There may of been a reason why the person was unable to do this simple task.