What life skills are rarely taught but extremely useful?

[Thesauron]

What life skills are rarely taught but extremely useful?

[careful]

how to listen.

[ChocoBro]

Don't know if this is what you mean, but I think a lot of soft skill books from the world are very useful. Topics like

- non-violent communication

- body language

- emotional intelligence

 

 that kind of thing

[Wanda Hill]

Car repair/maintenance

[Thesauron]

how to listen.

That’s true. Speaking seems more important to learn than listening.

[Thesauron]

Car repair/maintenance

Nobody taught me that, but it surely impresses in-laws and such folks if you can dabble in it.

[Qapla]

I find that many younger than me do not know how to do math ... unless they have a calculator. This is especially so when it comes to multiplying or dividing "in their head". When I was in school we had to learn (memorize) the "times tables" through, at least, 12 X 12. Today, if you ask many people what 8 X 7 equals, they will get the "deer in headlights" look because, without a calculator, they have no idea. If the power goes off, many cashiers have no idea how to make change because they rely on the machine to tell them how much to give you back if you pay cash.

 

 

 

I have also noticed that many do not really know how to use tools properly ... things like

• hammer
• drill
• hand saw

Many, when they use these tools do not seem to know how to make the tool do the work. Instead, they try to "force" the tool to work.

 

Take a hammer : To properly use  hammer, you hold it near the end of the handle and let the weight of the head drive the nail - using the swing of the hammer build the energy in the head so it delivers that energy to the head of the nail. Instead, many I see use a hammer want to "choke up" on the handle and hold it too close to the head - this keeps the hammer head from building momentum and the person is basically "pushing" the nail in instead of driving it in. Even when some do hold the hammer in the right place, they still don't seem to know how to "swing" a hammer and they try to "knock" the nail in (the same as pushing it in) instead of letting the hammer drive the nail.

 

The same holds true of using a drill or hand saw ... many people try to push them through the work instead of letting the tool do what it is designed to do. Properly sharpened drill bit and saws do not take pushing on them to force them through the work, they will cut their way through just fine if used correctly.

 

 

 

Another thing is that many here in the US don't really know how to cook. Oh, they can use the microwave or heat something in the oven. Some can even follow a recipe and make something. What I am talking about is starting from what you have in the fridge and pantry and "making it up" as you put it together. Someone who really knows how to cook does not need a recipe for everything they make. They can look at some meet and/or vegetables and an idea will come to them and they make it. They know how to season it without needing to have pre-made seasoning mixes.

 

 

Edited March 28, 2020 by Qapla

[normadenardo]

Soapmaking. Sewing. 

[Thesauron]

Soapmaking. Sewing. 

Sewing is useful. My parents never taught me that either. But I learned to arm socks out of, well, necessity.

[Ludwika]

Cooking. It seems many people never learnt how to cook from scratch, buying ready meals or being "packet cooks". Now with the lock downs, in many ist world countries this lack of know how is putting some at a disadvantage. 

[Qapla]

Yep, Jennifer, that's what I was talking about ...

 

Fortunately, in our house that is not a problem. There are 5 of us and we all know how to cook (I taught four of them) 

 

Only thing is, one of my girls REALLY knows how to cook now - she went to culinary school and got her Chef certificate - however, that is NOT what she does for work.

[Ludwika]

Yep, Jennifer, that's what I was talking about ...
 
Fortunately, in our house that is not a problem. There are 5 of us and we all know how to cook (I taught four of them) 
 
Only thing is, one of my girls REALLY knows how to cook now - she went to culinary school and got her Chef certificate - however, that is NOT what she does for work.

Actually, one of my sons became a chef, and one became a Baker! Both doing other things now, but skills that stand them in good stead. And the other son is also a very good cook, so they obviously learnt something from me growing up!

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[tekmantwo]

13 hours ago, Thesauron said:

What life skills are rarely taught but extremely useful?

Prufreading....

[Myew]

How to learn. That is to say, how to study and use resources such as databases, encyclopedias, libraries, etc, rather than just asking for the answer.
Crash Course has some really good courses on Study Skills and Navigating Digital Information. I totally fail Study Skills.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNcAJRf3bE1IJU6nMfHj86W
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtN07XYqqWSKpPrtNDiCHTzU

 

For everything else, there is How to Adult:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvdeRYvP0yPWuDfZOPMorvnCB7ez69Y83

 

[Ludwika]

Prufreading....

Proofreading!

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[Ludwika]

How to learn. That is to say, how to study and use resources such as databases, encyclopedias, libraries, etc, rather than just asking for the answer.
Crash Course has some really good courses on Study Skills and Navigating Digital Information. I totally fail Study Skills.

 
For everything else, there is How to Adult:

 

Well you could ask Siri or Alexa! Lol. No short cuts with bible study though!

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[EccentricM]

Farming, resource finding.

[CHecker]

Please forgive me as I don't intend this to sound like a know-it-all.

I was raised very poor. We literally had Taffy, our breader cow who was artificially inseminated and had a calf every 2 years,

10 chickens for eggs 

a huge garden of things to eat as well as preserve. 

We went to a local  vegetable farm to get our additional fruits and veg for canning, 

We went to the local day old bread store on a Monday for a months' worth of bread.  

Dad also had a 'spike', for lack of a real word for what it was, in the creek to bring up water to the garden with a generator. Shame I can't remember how exactly how he did it.

Mom baked bread and sour-dough everything.

Neighbor brought over homemade soap and milk.

Also had Ivory soap so it would float in the creek as we took a bath from March to September. Yup we really did!

Cut wood, mostly from buckskins of old growth that had felled. I have a picture you couldn't believe. (maybe I should post it on "picture")

I can run a hand crank wringer washer. Do sheets and everything, hang them to dry. 

I actually have two extra large drying racks now that I hang dry most of my laundry on- old habits die hard.

 

I know how to be poor, I know how to have plenty. I'll take the less fortunate any time, it teaches me resilience. 

 

[Katty]

How to create a budget, balance a checkbook, keep a good credit score, and just handle money, well, in general. I know I was never taught this growing up.

 

 

[lord-360]

1 hour ago, Katty said:

How to create a budget, balance a checkbook, keep a good credit score, and just handle money, well, in general. I know I was never taught this growing up.

 

 

Same here, I wasn't taught directly, but learned through my parents hardships.

[hatcheckgirl]

Resilience, how to fail - and yet succeed, because you learn to get up again.

 

Nowadays, parents do everything.  Children and adolescents aren't even getting to school on their own.  Parents are "helicopter" parents, cotton-wooling their kids.

Many things come under this umbrella - including household chores, being punctual and prioritising your time/time management, simple manners, to practical things like filling out forms such as for tax and social security.  Most really are clueless.

 

And spelling.  Who can do that anymore?  Maybe we don't need that skill now that we have spielchuckers 😆

[Qapla]

12 hours ago, hatcheckgirl said:

And spelling.  Who can do that anymore?

 

Grammar should be included with this to ...  two ... too

[GodlyDevotion]

How to think! What I personally learnt from the university is you're taught not how to think.

Some programmers I know only understand programming, and perform very poorly in other aspects. But a very useful life skill is knowing how to use information to your advantage.

 

Some years back, my writing was very poor. What did i do? I took courses in English Lang. and I read many articles, and books online. Truly, I can say I have improved a lot. 

 

This is the 21st century, and we call it the information age. A mentor once told me working very hard was the priority during the industrial age, but working smartly should be the goal for many during the information age. You want to learn how to be a writer, the internet is there for you. You want to learn how to cook, the internet is there for you. People need to learn how to think, and disregard the myth that the university is the right place for you. Definitely not in this century!

[Hinata]

I like this idea of r/AskJWTalk .......