What were your kids NOT able to do until an embarrassingly late age?

[princesspiglet]

My DD14 still struggles to fix her own hair. She cannot braid it to save her life and struggles getting pony tails in that stay put!

Same, my DD13 still requires me to fix her hair everyday. She holds the brush all wrong and can't braid or put it in a ponytail to save her life! I thought she might learn on her own last summer as she went on a week long sleep away camp, but when I picked her up, her hair was a rats nest. She said she only washed it once that whole week because she didn't know how to part it or how to brush it!!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My almost 20yo does not have her driver's license.

 

[princesspiglet]

My dd (almost 11) can't snap but her younger brother can and loves to rub it in. Drives her crazy! She can, however, whistle better than anyone else in the house and loves to make that known. Little turd.

My dd13 also can't snap or whistle. When she tries to snap, she puts her thumb fingernail (long nails) under her middle finger nail and "snaps" that way! It makes a sound, so she considers that her snap!

 

[Hannahinwonderland]

Same, my DD13 still requires me to fix her hair everyday. She holds the brush all wrong and can't braid or put it in a ponytail to save her life! I thought she might learn on her own last summer as she went on a week long sleep away camp, but when I picked her up, her hair was a rats nest. She said she only washed it once that whole week because she didn't know how to part it or how to brush it!!

I'm 22 and I am TERRIBLE at fixing my own hair. I can brush it and put it in a basic ponytail..but that's about it lol. When I want to look super nice I make my friends help.

 

[princesspiglet]

I'm 22 and I am TERRIBLE at fixing my own hair. I can brush it and put it in a basic ponytail..but that's about it lol. When I want to look super nice I make my friends help.

Oh no! That doesn't give me much hope, LOL!

 

[Hannahinwonderland]

Oh no! That doesn't give me much hope, LOL!

Don't worry, most people get it! I've never been great at that type of thing; I also struggle with putting on makeup and painting my nails. Lol.

 

[bethbuchall]

I'm 22 and I am TERRIBLE at fixing my own hair. I can brush it and put it in a basic ponytail..but that's about it lol. When I want to look super nice I make my friends help.

I'm almost 52 and the same way. I could never do my daughter's hair either. I'm just not good with hair.

I just saw your next post...there's a reason that I don't wear make up or do my nails, too. I guess I'm just bad at beauty.

 

[MomofKatie]

Same, my DD13 still requires me to fix her hair everyday. She holds the brush all wrong and can't braid or put it in a ponytail to save her life! I thought she might learn on her own last summer as she went on a week long sleep away camp, but when I picked her up, her hair was a rats nest. She said she only washed it once that whole week because she didn't know how to part it or how to brush it!!

My DD17 has very curly wavy hair like her father. I have straight hair. Poor thing used to have a big head of frizz until she was in middle school because I didn't know how to style curly hair. I just brushed it when it was dry- it was a big puffball, lol!! She got tips from our hairdresser when she was 11-12, and does her own now. It looks much better!

 

[jaiminee krikit]

My DD13 can't (won't) swim. When she was 5 we took swim lessons. She loved the teacher and was doing well, but after her first lesson she broke her leg and was in a cast for 6 weeks. After she got her cast off, we tried again. Unfortunately we got a different teacher this time. Basically all they did for 4 weeks was stand in the water and blow bubbles in the water with their mouths and bounce up and down. Then, the last day of the session, the teacher made all the kids jump in the water from the edge, claiming she would catch them. That was a lie. She didn't catch my daughter and she ended up getting completely submerged and inhaled a bit of water. She freaked out and refused to get back in the water. I tried to get her new lessons and I would suggest the first teacher, but she refused. I've tried many times to get her to swim and take lessons but she won't. My MIL gives her a hard time all the time because she never learned how to swim herself. She says my daughter shouldn't live her life scared of swimming or boating or anything that has to do with water. She misses out at pool parties and an annual band trip to a water park, but that doesn't bother her too much. What bothers her most is that I won't let her go to pool parties at all because I'm afraid she's going to get in the water not knowing how to swim just to not be excluded. I told her if she learns how to swim she can go. Still nothing.

She also can't do a somersault! When I was a kid we somersaulted all over the place but she has never landed a somersault. She claims they hurt her neck and head and hates doing them. She's in dance, and for this year's show she has to do a somersault. (2 years ago she had to learn how to do a cartwheel lol!) Funny fact - when my DH found out she couldn't do a somersault he had to show her that he could still do one. At 45 years old his body just doesn't work the way it once did and I thought we were going to have to call an ambulance!

 

[JustineMarie]

My 15 year old can't tell time on an clock unless it's digital. I mean like at all. It's like it's a foreign language to her.

 

[DizzieMom2]

My 13 yr old not only can not ride a bike, but has no desire to really try. Last summer, he got on it, fell off a couple of times in the driveway, and then put the bike away and decided to walk to the corner store.

My 10 yr old has epic difficulty washing/brushing her hair. Every time she washes her hair on her own, she either doesn't wash her scalp or doesn't rinse it all out, and she ends up a greasy mess. But then she wants to brush it on her own and it essentially turns into a craft fail...

But I feel better knowing that there are other kids out there for whom the struggle is real as well.

 

[Tasha228]

My 10 yr old has epic difficulty washing/brushing her hair. Every time she washes her hair on her own, she either doesn't wash her scalp or doesn't rinse it all out, and she ends up a greasy mess. But then she wants to brush it on her own and it essentially turns into a craft fail...

But I feel better knowing that there are other kids out there for whom the struggle is real as well.

My 10 year old daughter (who will be 11 next month) does a horrible job washing/brushing her hair as well. She is "tender headed" which doesn't help. The struggle is definitely real!

 

[PollyannaMom]

My 15 year old can't tell time on an clock unless it's digital. I mean like at all. It's like it's a foreign language to her.

As someone who works in multiple schools, I can tell you this is true of a lot of kids today! We still go over it in class, but they just don't get the practice "out in the world" that they used to. Fewer places have analog clocks at all, and the kids themselves tend to use phones instead of watches.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I'm 22 and I am TERRIBLE at fixing my own hair. I can brush it and put it in a basic ponytail..but that's about it lol. When I want to look super nice I make my friends help.

I am in my 40s and that is about the extent of what I can do. Apparently I fail at being a girl.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

My 15 year old can't (her 4 siblings can). She has tried SO many times, we've tried everything! Thank goodness she's only 85 pounds, and only needs 3 chewable motrins. It's ridiculous!

I have a terrible gag reflex, it took me years to figure out how to swallow even a tiny pill, they would always come right back up (sorry if that's tmi). Finally, at some point in my late 20s, I figured out that if I put the pill in a spoonful of applesauce and kind of let it slide down my throat I could overcome the gag reflex. I know you said you've tried everything but maybe that will help?

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Just found out that my 13 year old son doesn't know how to use a can opener. He's on the autism spectrum so there's actually a lot of things that he struggled with, kids with ASD tend to be a bit uncoordinated and have low muscle tone. So when he didn't learn how to ride a bike until he was 11 that was actually well within the realm of normal for him, but I have to take the blame for the can opener situation. I prepare most of our meals from scratch and I've never expected my son to help in the kitchen. We don't eat much in the way of canned goods but I keep a few cans of soup and some canned fruit in the pantry for him to grab an easy snack now that he's a teenager (and a bottomless pit), but those have pull tabs. He's been eating a lot of tuna too, but always the pouches. Except lately the deals on canned tuna have been so good that I stopped buying the pouches and started buying cans. The other day I walking into the kitchen and saw him struggling to open a can of tuna and I swear it was like watching a baby monkey on one of those nature programs learn how to use tools for the first time. However, I was able to suppress my laughter and calmly show him how to use the can opener because I am an awesome mom ; ) I think he's almost got it down now.

 

[fly girl]

My dd (8) can not only do EVERYTHING, but she is a master of it ALL -- including driving a stick shift! Yes, I'm saying it. My kid is perfect.









The most pitiful task is brushing teeth. I know she's in there brushing, I can hear her but yet her teeth are still not clean? How is that possible? Is she brushing only 1 tooth? I just don't know, so I still brush her teeth every morning before school.

Tying shoes is improving, but her ties are still undone in about 5 minutes. Attempted to teach double knot -- that went nowhere.

She has to wear a belt with school uniform. She still struggles getting some of them undone.

And top buttons with uniform, she can't get. All other buttons, no problem. Unsure if it's the collar or not being able to see (or combo) but she can never get the top button.

Oh oh oh, and making her bed. Granted the one side is against the wall so it's tricky for someone who can't maneuver a twin mattress. However, even if I get that side fixed for her the open side she makes looks like someone just rolled around in sheets. How does she make a made bed look worse than an unmade bed? Crazy, but she does!