Can someone truly be this innocent/clueless??

[Owlpost23]

To graduate high school here in Illinois,students have to take Consumer Education-which covers checkbook balancing and the like.Very practical class.

 

[Fire14]

I will say I took my fair share of home ec/real life classes. I still can't cook/bake to save my butt, Yes I can cook food to survive but it's far from my speciality. I can' sew worth a crink but can hem stuff and sew buttons on stuff.
The classes I liked the most in school were Science (bio), and the reallife skills classes ( consumer math, indepent living). I do our income taxes and have since i was in HS.

 

[crjack]

I have to admit things like a "rain check" would be foreign terms for my children too. With online shopping, etc. it's rare that there's something that I want that badly that won't go on sale again soon or would justify the hassle of getting one.

We live in a great school district but most of the life skills classes have disappeared. We do have health and a few others but it's a lot different than when I grew up.

My mom was home with us and I saw her cooking and baking. Most homes today have two working parents and with organized sports and activities meals are much different.

My children are fortunate to see me at home but it's definitely not the same household that I grew up in so I can see how this could happen.....I hope with my own it's not to that extreme but priorities change and time is scarce unfortunately.

 

[SaraJayne]

Some people are just stupid.

 

[lovealatte]

Hi- I see both sides here.. I know some people who have asked completely off the wall questions like these which can make me stare in amazement, but even I have asked such questions.
When I grew up with two working (now divorced) parents and no siblings, I was always doing school work, dance, cheer, musicals, etc. That continued through HS and now I'm in a ridiculously demanding college with no idea how to do my own laundry! or cook. no joke.

Maybe this girl is book smart as a PP said. I'd give her the benefit of the doubt.. hey, I have next to no idea how a mortgage works either, but I could teach you Latin.

 

[Becky2005]

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, there was a class called Home Economics. I think this needs to be brought back and updated for modern times. That or offered as maybe an afternoon seminar or class in college. That's just my two cents.

It's called consumer ed here and it's mandatory but even with that sometimes I have to wonder about my own kids.

I swear even though I'm pretty sure I have explained things to them sometimes the concepts they come up with.....I just have to shake my head and hope they survive eventually.

However, there is definitely a difference between book smarts & street smarts.

Of course, sometimes I'm the one that IS that clueless and my kids are the ones going "duh mom!" -- I think we had something like this thread before but it all depends on where you grew up & what you grew up with. If you haven't been exposed to something before you wouldn't know (i.e. the blinds -- if she didn't grow up with a house that had them you may not know it's a simple fix).

 

[MoniqueU]

Yes she can b who is that clueless. I have a super high achieving daughter, I mean over the top.

She did not know what a "dairy" was, she knew there was dairy food but didn't know it came from an actual dairy and he had to explain about cows and farmers!!

She wants a Jeep for a first car, she wanted to know if Jeep was spelled with a G?

I told my son that the sad part is she will graduate with a 4.35 gpa but will have no life skills. She is however very good with her money, I often have to borrow from her, not the other way around and she knows all about sales since I no longer just let her pick stuff and pay for it, she gets what I give her and has to figure it out.

 

[Local_Girl]

I had to smile because this thread reminded me of how "clueless" I've been in the past about certain things. I grew up in Hawaii, with electric everything (no natural gas, propane, no furnaces, etc.) and when I moved up to the Mainland (continental U.S.) I had a gas furnace/water heater in my first apartment. Well, the first time the water heater made that popping sound that it normally does as it goes through it's heating process, I was so sure that something was terribly wrong and worried that it might "blow up"! A couple of phone calls to family/friends set me straight, but I really had no clue how it worked and what to expect.

Driving and maintaining a car in the winter was a new experience as well. Unless you are told about things like the need to keep a snow brush/ice scraper in the car, you might not think of something like that if you've never had to deal with it.

Anyway, this thread is a good reminder that I need to be more diligent about teaching my teenagers some of the basic things they need to know to be out on their own. Sometimes we think they'll just figure it out by watching us do things, but if they aren't paying attention....??

 

[luvthemouse71]

My cousin is married to a woman similar to this..very sweet but some of the things that come out of her mouth are amazing, lol.

 

[DawnM]

It was a required class in 9th grade where I taught. I don't know if it still is. I ended up teaching it for several years. Noone else wanted to and honestly, I really enjoyed it.

Dawn

This should defnitely be a required class. I'm an attorney and for the first three years of practice I practiced mainly consumer bankruptcy. It was amazing to me how many people go credit cards and just didn't know how they worked. They didn't understand interest, etc. I filed a number of bankruptcies for people in thier early 20s because they just didn't understand the system.

 

[RangerPooh]

There are plenty of people that clueless. I do have to wonder if some people who do everything for their child hope that the person they marry will continue to do everything for them, ie: Marry rich. My 4 yo knows about coupons and is aware that they help to make items cost less. Last week she asked why i was throwing away old ones? Great opportunity to discuss how things work.

I have gone to the store plenty of times to purchase laundry detergent and have found college age girls standing in the isle trying to figure out what to buy with no clue how to use it. Which is made more obvious when they ask you what you would use?

Now I have not always been great with finances, but realized that you have to earn money in order to spend it, how to budget for food and rent, and how to do my own basic repairs. As a parent I do feel that it is our responsibility to teach our children basic life skills. Having taught special education this is something that you start working with some children early on. They need life skills in order to become independent.

Perhaps this young women is an indicator of how our society is not preparing the younger generation for the real world. I'm 31, a parent, wife, employee, and student and am well aware of what I need to do in order to function. Yet as the times are changing we might neglect to introduce children to basic concepts such as checkbooks, coupons, rainchecks, layaway, shopping around for a deal, etc.

 

[honeydiane1953]

One time a girl going to school with me asked how much a 75. money order would cost at a store across the street. We told her it was 75 cent(at the time). Well she came back and said they wanted 75.75!!! She thought she could get the 75. money order for .75???? We were all in our twenties and could not believe she was pulling our leg. LAWD she was for real.

 

[beaucoup]

Imagine the next generation who has iPods earphones in 24/7. Never picking up the slightest bit of education from everyday conversations around them. In the car with parents. In line at the store. Chatter from the local radio DJ.

 

[fitzy819]

I have met a few people like this in my life.

My "best friend" in high school was very similar to the girl you described. I still remember one time we were at her house alone and we accidentally broke a glass vase. I was helping her clean it up and suggested that we use old newspaper from her garage to wrap it up in several times and then toss it in the trash. She told me nah, she was just going to put all the pieces down the garbage disposal!!!!

I am very glad now that my mother made me do chores and things around the house so I was fully prepared to live on my own.

 

[CathrynRose]

Are lots of people clueless? Look at how many hundreds of millions of dollars each year are lost to Nigerian scam artists and that should give you an idea.

I wanted to *LIKE* this.... like on FaceBook.

Some people are just dumb. I don't know if it's life skills, or what -but some people just are.

When I brought my son home from the hospital, my (now ex husband)'s brother and the brothers girlfriend came over. Now granted, the girl was 16 - however, my children at age 8 would know this...

She asked "He doesn't walk or anything, yet?"

He's a flipping day old! Should he use his little 8" legs and scurry into the kitchen and whip up his own bottle, too??

I really hope this girl never had kids.

Some people are just dumb.

 

[MrandMissVacation]

My mother in law worked with a lady that didn't know how she became PG ( she was married) TWICE!! claimed that it was dark. She also insisted that toothbrushing was to be done in the kitchen because the water from the faucet in the bathroom came from the toilet. She wouldnt use a pen provided at funeral homes because the dead were in the same room as the pen. And lastly she used PLEDGE to wax the GARAGE floor.
It takes all kinds.

 

[TinkerMouse]

There are plenty of people that clueless. I do have to wonder if some people who do everything for their child hope that the person they marry will continue to do everything for them, ie: Marry rich. My 4 yo knows about coupons and is aware that they help to make items cost less. Last week she asked why i was throwing away old ones? Great opportunity to discuss how things work.

I have gone to the store plenty of times to purchase laundry detergent and have found college age girls standing in the isle trying to figure out what to buy with no clue how to use it. Which is made more obvious when they ask you what you would use?

Now I have not always been great with finances, but realized that you have to earn money in order to spend it, how to budget for food and rent, and how to do my own basic repairs. As a parent I do feel that it is our responsibility to teach our children basic life skills. Having taught special education this is something that you start working with some children early on. They need life skills in order to become independent.

Perhaps this young women is an indicator of how our society is not preparing the younger generation for the real world. I'm 31, a parent, wife, employee, and student and am well aware of what I need to do in order to function. Yet as the times are changing we might neglect to introduce children to basic concepts such as checkbooks, coupons, rainchecks, layaway, shopping around for a deal, etc.

I agree completely! Just because someone has a full time job and other commitments doesn't mean they shouldn't take time to teach their children the things they need in life. Reading things like "two working parents" makes me think "Well duh. Most 2 parent households consist of two working parents but they still manage to teach their kids so what's the real excuse here?" It's much more than that. There is a bevy of single parents who do everything including making 6 figures and their kids know these life skills things. Some parents just don't think about some things and don't realize that they have to teach them to their children. I guess they just forgot how they were brought up, unless they themselves were never taught. For the kids who don't know how to do laundry I guess the parents just figured that since laundry is so incredibly easy the kids would just pick it up as they went along but they didn't realize that their kids actually thought it was somewhat complex. It would make so much sense if Home Ec and Consumer Ed were mandatory in all schools.

Imagine the next generation who has iPods earphones in 24/7. Never picking up the slightest bit of education from everyday conversations around them. In the car with parents. In line at the store. Chatter from the local radio DJ.

I agree with this too. I really don't understand why people don't make their kids do chores. It's beneficial for everyone. It's also a better punishment than just taking something away because kids can always find something else. Even if you have a maid the wise parent still makes the kid clean their own room.

One of my college roommates was clueless like this and her parents honestly taught her nothing about the real world other than go to school, study hard and get a job. That's good, but how to acquire food, keep your living space livable, and be aware of your surroundings (especially at night) are important too. Her relationship with her parents also wasn't the greatest and they hadn't spent that much time with her. It's also harder for parents who aren't the practically perfect ones to teach kids who aren't naturally inquisitive. It's somewhat easier if your kid is constantly asking you about things. Then again, some of these parents don't even explain to those kids so they just have to figure it out for themselves.

Parents are also not our only source of education. Our peers and the media also teach us. Whatever happened to sitcoms? Clearly people who are tiny today are more likely to channel surf into a reality tv show than a sitcom but everybody my age (just turned 21) or older had tons of opportunities if they had a tv. There are so many sitcom episodes on practically all of this, and I know I learned a lot from them. The Cosby Show, Full House, The Fresh Prince of BelAir, Boy Meets World, Sister Sister, etc. Educational programming in general helps. As an elementary schooler I would've learned even more high school level science if they would have just put it on Magic School Bus.

Education aside, there are some people with learning disabilities that allow them to build a ton of book smarts but practically no street smarts. I would think that some "common sense" is the kind you learn through observing and processing and not via direct teaching. These people obviously aren't getting the direct teaching, but I think that some of them are also not processing things as efficiently as others and that's not their or their parents faults.

On a less serious note, some people are just dense.

 

[csharpwv]

When my parents were newly married - my Dad was about to finish out his time in the military so they would be moving out of their rented home.

The landlord was going to be out of town and asked my Dad if he minded showing the new tenants around the property.

Dad had no problem doing that - so the couple came over and Dad showed them where everything could be found - and they finally got to the hot water heater - and the other guys asked - "What is that?" - A little baffled Dad explained that it was the hot water heater for the home. The other guy asked "Oh wow - how often will I need to fill that?" Uhhhhhhh......

How to respond.....

There really are people out there that enter their adult life being totally clueless about the world around them.

I would be the OP's co-worker grew up hearing 'Oh, let me do that for you'
'don't worry - I've already taken care of it' - 'Here is your homework' and very other similar ignorance enabling behaviors.

I work in college admissions and we are NEVER surprised when a parent:
-Calls to complain about their child's schedule
-Calls and demand to talk to the professor that is treating their child unfairly for missing class - and not allowing them to make up the assigment missed.
- Refuses to attend the parent orientation session because they need to be by their child's side in putting their course schedule together. Even though those are ALWAYS the very last students to leave the room and require the most assistance from the adviser. One mother caused her child to require 4 schedule overrides from the Registrar - and ended up having to come BACK to another program to get things straightened out - without Mom in tow.

Some parents are SOOOOO afraid to allow their child to learn a lesson through failure. Those same kids are totally devastated by the simplest errors - mistakes - and common failures. It's not uncommon to miss one of your first classes in college due to parking, room # change, confusions etc etc - but it definitely isn't something to physically BREAKDOWN over!

Those are the same people that need help from everyone around them to take care of the most menial tasks that life throws their way.

Heaven help them when people get tired of their ignorance and inability to care for themselves.

 

[pampam]

I truly do believe it is the parents responsibility to teach their children life skills. I'm happy when the schools do as well, but it is the parents job to raise their children with the tools they will need to succeed in life. Now, that being said, parents cannot pass on to their children knowledge they do not have. That's where the schools fit in. But if the child sees the parents discussing bills and finances, or if the parents allow the child to "help" in the kitchen, and show them how recipes work, or if they take their children into a bank and open an account in the childs name for them, or show them how to check the oil in the car, etc. these are skills that will benefit the child in years to come. They really do a dis-service to the child by not teaching the child the value of a dollar. And not to take this thread off topic, but they also have the responsibility to teach the child manners and morals, not the schools. Still I support the schools when they do these things if the parents are not.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

Some parents are SOOOOO afraid to allow their child to learn a lesson through failure. Those same kids are totally devastated by the simplest errors - mistakes - and common failures. It's not uncommon to miss one of your first classes in college due to parking, room # change, confusions etc etc - but it definitely isn't something to physically BREAKDOWN over!

Those are the same people that need help from everyone around them to take care of the most menial tasks that life throws their way.

Heaven help them when people get tired of their ignorance and inability to care for themselves.

There was an AP article back in the fall that made a lot of news, I know the talk raido stations around here talked about it for a few days... "Are we raising a generation of nincompoops?"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20100927/us-fea-parenting-nincompoops/#