Basic things younger people don't know.

I think a lot of older people have completely forgotten what it was to be young.

This person did not know how to open a bank account, get a mortgage, tax or insure a car and several other things.

Schools are there to educate us, not teach us how to tax a car

I grew up in a smallish town in a rural area and every summer, what we used to call "underprivileged" children came from Glasgow for a 2-week break. They had never seen a field or a cow and didn't know where potatoes came from. Perhaps seeing what inner-city deprivation and poverty can do to someone prevents me from finding the stories about chips funny.

I would say the opposite when it comes to ds1 and dil. They can fix and mend or sew anything, do their own DIY grow their own food, raise chickens in the city for eggs and meat. They are very old fashioned compared to me, DH and I just bin things when they don’t work, or need fixing.

Ds2 on the other hand is completely useless but has a good job so doesn’t need to economise like we did at that age.

When my son was working in a clothing shop during holiday breaks whilst at university, one of his colleagues was pondering on this "are the moon and and the sun the same, only you never see them together?"

Same son, when he was about 14 or so had a subscription to "Kerrang" magazine, it was late turning up once and he in all seriousness asked me could I ask the postman where it was, I had to suppress my snorts of laughter, clearly he was labouring under the misapprehension the poor postman was personally responsible for everyone's mail.

What do they not know? ....... that life is short - very vy short.

I learn new things every day. It doesn't surprise me that people don't know things that I think are ordinary.

It does surprise me when people just aren't interested in things.

So for exampl, I've got to be my age without knowing anything much about hardwoods and their differences. I knew they weren't softwoods of course but over the last few days I've found out about which hardwoods to use on a house facia repair and some of the differences which make for different uses. I have been looking at Iroku, Accoya, Sapele and others and different sorts of oak timbers.

(I am now becoming a "wood bore" though!).

Having said all that, my son didn't know you had to periodically clean out the filter on your washing machine.

He of course should have known as he still had the instructions!

Aye Luckygirl3 ‘it’s true?
But do you remember the school summer holidays? They seemed to stretch out wonderfully before us? - I almost felt like a different person by the time the new term began.
And can you also recall having an unfamiliar “stand in” teacher or having to reluctantly stay somewhere overnight/ or a horrible lesson that d-r -a -g -g -e -d on and on.
It is familiarity, prior experience and years of dull routine or contentment that make time seem elastic imo

M0nica

Since everyone, including young people, carry a computer in their pocket, why do they not look it up?

When my children were in junior school, around the early 1980s, I read a letter in a newspaper from an 18 year old A level school leaver saying that school didn't teach anything useful. This person did not know how to open a bank account, get a mortgage, tax or insure a car and several other things.

So when my children came out of school, I asked them whether they knew how to open a bank account etc. DS was the elder and his response to the bank account question was: 'I would go into a bank and ask.' We went down the list and his response was always. I would go into a building society/post office etc etc and ask. There was one he didn't know, but thought and said, 'I expect there is somewhere I could go and ask.'

This divergence between what older people think younger people should know and what they do know has always been there, and depressingly, despite the omnipresence of google, too many of them never seem to have been taught how to find things out for themselves.

My kids are in their 30s. I guarantee that opening a bank account, getting a mortgage, and taxing and insuring a car have all changed since they were in school.
I'm with M0nica, teaching your children how to find things out is the important skill.
And giving them the confidence to ask.

Why single out young people? I didn't know how to sort a problem with Alexa and it wasn't because I hadn't been taught it at school.

How to live on a very strict budget and save.

Maybe they should all get a second job, I hope they are not expecting to have the weekend off.

My granddaughter,who lives in the city, was highly delighted to see a horse up close. She is 4. City kids miss out on a lot.

When I was young I knew everything. As I have got older I have come to realise that I don’t.

volver

Maybe they should all get a second job, I hope they are not expecting to have the weekend off.

Indeed.

If a second job, and or weekend work is needed to pay bills rather than relying on the government stepping in with top ups.

Wow...

volver

Maybe they should all get a second job, I hope they are not expecting to have the weekend off.

Now who’s stirring?

I think a lot of youngsters do pretty well, the ones I know have certainly got their heads screwed on, in fact they knew and no a lot more things than I did when I was younger

Know

I said to my 14 yr old Granson one time, it's Lashing down!! he said "what do you mean"

There are those who know not, and know not that they know not. Those are fools: shun them.
There are those who know not, and know that they know not. Those are scholars: teach them.
There are those who know, and know not that they know. Those are heedless: remind them.
There are those who know and know that they know. Those are masters: follow them

We had a very practical teacher in our last year at school. She showed us how to balance books, explained about taxes, savings and interest etc. I'd hated maths but the practical arithmetic was very much appreciated.

I remember Tomasz Schafernaker, the weather man, telling the truth on 'Would I Lie to You' that he had only recently found out that lambs were baby sheep. He had thought they were different breeds of animal.

My GS, when about 14, didn’t know how to get a bar of soap to ‘lather’.

I started using bar soap in Covid, and up to then, he had only used liquid soap.

He looked gone out when he said how useless the soap was, and I said he needed it to ‘lather’.

?

Aveline

We had a very practical teacher in our last year at school. She showed us how to balance books, explained about taxes, savings and interest etc. I'd hated maths but the practical arithmetic was very much appreciated.

That reminds me of the time my daughter asked me how to write a cheque!! Now it's all cards and phones to pay bills.