<p>Oh, and the first time my daughter did her own laundry she managed to use bleach instead of detergent and ruined most of her clothes (and some of mine! LOL). This was kind of unfortunate for a high school student, but could have been really inconvenient for a college student without a car to easily get to the mall to replace things. </p>
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Ouch, you have mentioned many things that my child was not asked to do when he was growing up with us. He must have been under a lot of stress when he went off to college.</p>
<p>I think the best that happened to him was to attend a college that is thousands of miles away so it takes away our means to overprotect. (However, I suspect that his college pampers its students much more than a typical large state school does. Each group of about 100 incoming students to a residential college have 1) a dean 2) a master 3) a freshman counselor 4) a departmental academic advisor, to support them. When a student has a “slight” chance of running into any trouble, it appears someone in the “system” will likely notice it and contact him/her to see if he/she needs help. In one year, I think every single student in his suite received one or another kind of “warning” from the system. None of them was a “bad” student in the traditional sense! All 6 of them were graduated from college on time - with all kinds of honors like PBK, etc. Two continued on to an Ivy league graduate schools, one JD, two MDs (overlapped), one teacher, one i-banker. And many of the students in his suite had 3.8-4.0 GPAs in almost all semesters and could you imagine that almost all of them received an “academic warning” at one time?! A very common warning is to fail to meet a core education requirement by a certain semester up to the end of the junior year.</p>
<p>Back to the original question about overprotection: We have been guilty in this area and try to remedy in this area in recent years.</p>
<p>I would advise any parent to send their kid with a first-aid kit and “medicine cabinet”. Their ailments will be a lot easier to take care of when they do not need to worry about acquiring the medicine. </p>
<p>I think it makes a lot of sense to send kids to college with some advil and band-aids, but the student health centers are pretty well equipped.</p>
<p>An adult should know how to change a tire, but if he/ she has nice clothes on - call AAA 
</p>
<p>I know HOW to change a tire, but I can never get the lug nuts off. Luckily just about every time I’ve tried to change a tire, some knight in shining armor appears out of nowhere and does it for me!</p>
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<p>A lug wrench supplied with a car is typically about a foot long. The tightening torque on the lug nuts is typically 70 to 100 foot-pounds, but they can be overtightened. Therefore you need to be able to deadlift 70 to 100 pounds (more if overtightened), or weigh 70 to 100 pounds (more if overtightened) standing on the end of the lug wrench.</p>
<p>Carrying an extension, or a longer handled wrench, will reduce the force or weight you need to apply to produce the torque needed to loosen the lug nuts.</p>
<p>For reference on the physics, see <a href=“http://www.lightandmatter.com/html_books/me/ch15/ch15.html#Section15.4”>http://www.lightandmatter.com/html_books/me/ch15/ch15.html#Section15.4</a> (note the diagram with the wrench example).</p>
<p>The initial loosening should be done before jacking up the car.</p>
<p>The list of things “everybody” should be able to do is a moving target, and varies by circumstances as well. I suspect that there are some folks here who think “everybody” should know how to change the oil in the car, for example, while others have never known anybody who did that themselves. I think what you have to develop in your kids is confidence that they can figure out how to do anything they need to do. What the specific things are don’t matter nearly as much.</p>
<p>LOL on the changing of flat tire. I’ve never done it myself, although I think I can figure it out if I need to.</p>
<p>^^^^^</p>
<p>Last sentence is key!</p>
<p>I recall trying to teach my son how to sew on a button. I doubt he remembers.</p>
<p>When he was living in an apartment, he was finally ready to learn some cooking skills. He spent an afternoon with a friend of mine, who was a professional chef. I know he doesn’t make his own spaghetti sauce, but I hope he feels comfortable cooking fish and chicken. (before you ask, I could never get him interested in cooking/baking with me).</p>
<p>Sad to say, but my son follows my example of calling AAA. Once a friend drove me to Sears to get a battery and we installed it. Last week, with a different car, the AAA man had to struggle to get the battery in. He kept saying, “If only I had a BMW–they are so easy”.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my son is far more conscientious about researching auto repair places, insurance, mutual funds, than I am. He is great finding hotels and planning excursions. </p>
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<p>Yes, this. </p>
<p>These kids have smart phones. They are a google search away from figuring out how to fill out a bank deposit slip or where the gas cap release is located in a car. There are videos showing them how to change a tire if they absolutely need to do that. </p>
<p>Maybe a decade back I read with growing incredulity a newspaper story about how college students were calling home to ask for help with even the most trivial of issues. One student dropped her/his keys down the dorm elevator shaft, and promptly called home to ask what to do. I asked then-seven year old D2 and her friend what they’d do in that situation. They answered that they’d look for a phone number in the elevator to call for help, or find someone at the dorm who was in charge. Joke will be on me if D2 calls me freshman year asking for help with her lost keys… :-)</p>
<p>This is why when Momzie was asking for anything else to make her son prepared I suggested that Google and those around him would be the best route. You can’t predict events that you don’t know about. Good thing Google is there to tell you the answers! </p>
<p>I’m 49 yo, I don’t know how to change a tire, and I doubt I ever will. Oh well. There are few places I will ever be going where I couldn’t find someone to do it for me. I don’t see it as a critical life skill. Convenient, but not critical. </p>
<p>What if you knew a person with lots of life experience, who you could call for advice at any time, at no cost? How often would you call that person? What I’m saying is that it’s rational for a kid to call a parent for advice when facing a new situation. It’s easy, it’s free, and there’s a pretty good chance the parent will have the answer. If they can’t reach you, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are helpless.</p>
<p>
So true @bookworm.</p>
<p>2014 M6, eh? Nice. </p>
<p>I can’t wait for mine when I graduate. [-O< </p>
<p>@Niquii77
I don’t own an M6. I own a BMW, but an old one and less expensive than an M6.</p>
<p>I often joke to my daughter, that she’s my M6, since I’m spending hard earned money on tuition starting next school year.</p>
<p>"I’d like to phone a friend . . . "</p>
<p>I weigh more than 100 pounds, but I have jumped up and down on the wrench or at least tried to with no effect. A longer lever might be useful, but as I said, someone always seems to show up to help.</p>
<p>@giterdone I do not feel as if I am more mature than other kids. If a parent feels as if their child is immature they may force their kid to stay closer. If their child is more mature they may be more willing to allow the child to go farther away (to them farther may be 4 hours, one hours, or a two days). 4 hours in my family’s terms is far away. </p>
<p>And the quote you took is from my first post. CC wouldn’t let me edit it. So I had to make a post again. The second post (the one that follows calmom’s) is what I originally meant to say.</p>