<p>How to use a can opener</p>
<p>Laundry (hot & cold water, colors & whites). How to change a flat tire.</p>
<p>Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but how to mow a lawn.</p>
<p>Not just how but when, how often to launder bedding, get a haircut, sort repeat prescriptions so they dont run out.</p>
<p>What goes into, how to pack and store a go bag in the event of an emergency.
How to have at least 2 well stocked first aid kits: one in the home and one in their car.</p>
<p>How to load a dishwasher. D’s roommate did not know what the heating element was or to put the cups upside down, i am not kidding.</p>
<p>Neuroticparent: Love it! Exactly why I am switching to iphone well in advance of when he leaves!!</p>
<p>re: scraping ice off of the windshield. This weekend, S visited us. DH offered him our scraper since he said there had been icy mornings where he attends school. He refused saying he uses his parking permit. I told DH that at $375/yr. that’s the most expensive ice scraper ever.</p>
<p>
I was going to put this, but I was afraid nobody would believe me!</p>
<p>The ability to do minor drywall repairs comes in very handy.</p>
<p>The ability to carry-on more than a 3 sentence conversation with someone over 25 years of age.</p>
<p>If the D masters this concept prior to leaving the nest I’ll be pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>D has an interest in cooking, so feeding herself won’t be an issue.</p>
<p>We recently came back from a few days in the warm weather. Upon arriving in lovely Newark Liberty Airport (temps were well below freezing for several days), of the course the car didn’t start. D was truley amazed “Dad, you hooked up these wires to the car, attached them to another car and the car started. I have no idea how you knew to do that.”</p>
<p>The large S on my chest glowed and my cape fluttered behing our chariot all the way home!! I was a star for at least an hour that evening.</p>
<p>YouTube is a great resource. One time DS consult it to sew a rip on his clothing.</p>
<p>How to take care of yourself when you’re sick. (Even if that means knowing who to call) The worst feeling in the world is the first time you’re sick in your dorm without anyone to get things for you or to tell you what to do. It’s hard.</p>
<p>@ Threesdad - “The large S on my chest glowed and my cape fluttered behing our chariot all the way home!! I was a star for at least an hour that evening.”</p>
<p>This really made me smile!</p>
<p>How to eat right!! As in not just Ramen or McDonalds everyday, but adding fruits and veggies, staying hydrated, etc. health is the most important thing!</p>
<p>^^^^</p>
<p>Really, what is it with the Ramen thing? Just a plastic cup full of salt in my opinion. Don’t understand why teenagers love it so much.</p>
<p>Yikes, I forgot about the mailing a letter skill! I did have to teach S how to do that! Also, I wrote an instruction sheet on how to take different cold meds. In fact, I should call him now. He has a cold.</p>
<p>I love ramen too!</p>
<p>This is a funny thread… but feeling pretty good reading through it about the fact that S18 is pretty prepared for his freshman year. He has been doing his own laundry since age 12, can cook a pretty decent meal (in fact, he and his buddies grilled themselves shrimp kababs yesterday, even did the grocery shopping themselves), he takes care of his own car maintenance, handles his own bank account, handles his own communications with teachers/bosses/etc. Recently he got a speeding ticket, had to go to downtown Houston from the 'burbs to take care of it. When he got to the court in his cargo shorts, he was told he could not go in front of the judge in shorts (he had previously called and they told him he would not have to see the judge, so he thought he would be fine in shorts)… did he call me or come home without taking care of it? Nope… he went and found a store that was open at 8:30 a.m., bought a pair of $12 pants, and went back to the court. Made me laugh, but was very proud he came up with his own solution…</p>
<p>Student here but make sure your kids know how to use the washers at school. Our washer and dryer at home are completely different than the ones in the dorms, all the buttons have different names it has stuff like colors/knits/delicates versus temperatures at school. When I moved in my parents came to the laundry room with me and told me what to use here and the differences for front load washers since we have top load. Also make sure they know if their clothes aren’t dry they need to leave them out, I’ve had a lot of friends who had damp clothes and had to re wash everything because it smelled like mildew</p>
<p>About mail-do these kids never get actual snail mail at all? No cards from grandma or grades from the school, license reneweal notices? NOTHING with an address and a stamp? All one has to do is look at an envelope to see where the address, return address and stamp go, and ask at the post office (or counter at the store) how much a single stamp is. And if they’re all about going online, the USPS website has a handy-dandy price calculator where you plug in the size, weight and to/from info and get a total needed for postage. Ignorance about this sort of thing makes me want to weep.</p>
<p>About jump-starting a car, etc.-my driver’s ed went over the basics of these things-how to change a tire, how to push-start a manual car, what jumper cables are for. My kids’ classes had this included too. I can’t imagine a driving kid not knowing these things-it would be part of what <em>I</em> taught them at home if the classes didn’t cover it. They wouldn’t be getting behind the wheel alone without such information. And knowing the AAA number isn’t good enough.</p>