Preparing Your Teenager for the Adult World

Part and parcel of preparing your child to enter the world are to make sure they have some basic life skills that they can use to navigate the world around them once the time comes. As parents, our job is to nurture them into people who become decent human beings and one with an idea of how the world works and some important knowledge they can take with them. After all, they will grow up and become adults at some point, and what they learn from parents will shape the type of adults they will eventually become.

What are the best life skills you teach your child, or can you help them learn when they finally fly the coop?

Chores

Picking up after your child at home can be exhausting. Many parents will attest to this. Preparing them for life after childhood means showing them how to do basic chores around the house and equip them with some common skills they can fall back on. Teach them independence and responsibility so whether they move out to live alone or with others, they can clean up after themselves and not burden others by expecting other people to clean up around them.

• How to use a washing machine, vacuum cleaner and other appliances around the home
• Tips and tricks for cleaning around the home
• The products you use for dishwashing, laundry, mopping floors and cleaning spills on carpets
• Changing and washing bedding
• Maintaining levels of cleanliness, e.g. cleaning up after cooking, putting rubbish in the trash etc.
• Unblocking sinks, toilets, plugs and drains

Cooking and grocery shopping

All children should have some cooking skills by the time they leave home. Being able to make a healthy, nutritious meal is something many people struggle to do, and this can lead to an over-reliance on junk food and ramen. If your skills aren’t so great, break the cycle by learning how to cook and shop for a healthy diet. Learning how to make simple meals for their favourite meals can give them independence.

Teach them how to do a grocery shop that will enable them to provide themselves with a healthy and balanced diet once they live independently. Identify stores you shop in for specific items and show them how to look for the best quality fruits and meats to avoid purchasing spoiled food goods. Share any tips and tricks you use to keep your grocery bill lower too. This will give our child a basis to start from when they start to shop for themselves.

Vehicle maintenance

If your child has a car when they leave home, make sure they are confident about what they need to upkeep the car’s condition and how to undertake minor repairs. Being able to identify when they need new tyres or to swap tyres based on the seasons. Let them know how to check for the right size and brand of tyres for their vehicle, for example, ford ranger wheels, so that they can drive safely.

Having an emergency repair kit in the car for breakdowns, spare tyres, bulbs, and petrol can protect you from extreme weather conditions such as snow and ice or heat. 

Budgeting and money management

One skill that is vital for everyone is learning how to properly budget and manage your money. If they live independently, they will need to know how to budget to pay their bills and have money to look after themselves.

Discuss what happens when you open credit lines and how taking on too much credit can impact their future ability to apply for things such as a mortgage or car finance and even pass a credit check for renting housing in the future. 

Discuss their options regarding insurances, such as health insurance, once they become adults and are no longer covered on a parents policy. The advantages of having life and home insurance, along with savings accounts. It can be tempting not to save and blow their money once they are out on their own. And no one can blame them. However, being open and honest with them about how to budget and manage their finances effectively can help them make good financial decisions in the future. Especially if one day they are looking to purchase their own home or start their own business.

Time management

We all know how hard it can be to get teenagers out of bed and school or work on time. Time management is something people need to learn going into the world. Being able to allow yourself time to get to and from education to work and allow yourself enough sleep is vital.

Start by giving them the responsibility at the home of being in charge of making sure they can get up in the morning in plenty of time to go about their day. They may need to face the consequences of their decisions to get the message through on how important it is to practise good time management.

There are plenty of alarm or scheduling apps they can download to their cell phones to help them manage their time better and avoid rushing from one place to another during the day due to poor timekeeping.

Decision making

Making decisions is unavoidable in everyday life. However, once your child leaves the family home for the next part of their lives, the decisions they make will be bigger than what to wear that day, even though this will still be something they need to decide.

Allow them more responsibility at home when it comes to making decisions and experiencing what happens after they make decisions. Talk them through their thinking regarding bigger events and hypothesis situations and discuss how their choices and decisions can impact their lives if they choose wrongly.

Sadly sometimes, you can’t always predict the outcome of decisions; however, giving them the knowledge and option to make the best choices possible will help them for the rest of their lives.

Health

Does your child know how to take care of their bodies and make sure they are fit and healthy? While the student life doesn’t exactly scream healthy, that doesn’t mean your child shouldn’t know what they need to do to stay in the best shape possible.

Of course, they won’t be expected to live a healthy lifestyle all the time. Knowing to make better choices is still something they should have.

From healthy food choices, such as eating plenty of fruit and veg and making sure they don’t rely on fast food microwave meals constantly, drinking water and staying properly hydrated so their bodies can help them keep up with the demands of a hectic adult lifestyle. All the small things add up and can help your child to make better choices regarding their health.

If they take regular medications, they need to be confident in their ability to take them when they need to refill their prescription when it runs out. Sleep may be weak, but we all need sleep and making sure your child can regulate their sleeping pattern as much as possible will help them keep up with the demands they may be feeling in an adult world. 

Tips for teenagers to stay healthy:

• Physical activity needn’t be the gym—any type of movement, including any physically active employment they might have. Walking, swimming, dancing etc., are all great ways to stay active and keep their body fit and healthy.
• Everything in moderation. A balanced diet is just that. There will be times they won’t eat so well, but if they know they need to balance out what they eat and enjoy everything in moderation, they can start building a good healthy relationship with food.
• Sleep is important. Their bodies process their daily activities while they sleep and repair and regenerate cells during this sleep. They need to find a sleep routine and duration that works for them. Burning the candle at both ends or relying on caffeine to get them through the day means they are stretching themselves too thin, and they need to look at changing their lifestyle to allow them to rest more.
• Stress management. It isn’t easy making your way into the world as a teenager or young adult. Yoga, meditating, and stress relief products can help them manage their stress levels and find a release for any anxiety or excess stress. Journalling can also help them make sense of what is in their head and get it out and written down to allow them to work through their problems.

Social interactions

As they grow up, they will be expected to learn to live as an adult. Social cues, manners and the art of conversation are all handy skills they will need to learn. Speaking to their boss at work, using manners when coming into contact with strangers, and expressing themselves is an important part of human development. Learning to assert yourself without coming across as demanding or rude confidently will be something they can fall back on when advancing through their career.

Discuss how they can effectively communicate with those around them and the importance of speaking and acting appropriately in different situations. Talk through any fears they may have regarding any social anxiety and look at ways to communicate effectively without causing themselves more anxiety. 

Preparing your child for their future

For many parents, these skills will be something they are teaching their children as they get older. However, one thing being able to do all of this when living at home with parents, but being able to advocate for themselves when they are making their own way in the world can be a different story.

Being able to help your child when they need it and teach them new skills when they ask or come across different situations can be a great learning curve and provide valuable experience and knowledge they can use for the rest of their lives.