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

[Poohforyou]

My oldest couldn't swallow a pill until he was 16 years old!!!

My 16yo still can't swallow a pill. Luckily she weighs 80lb and can still take chewables and liquids.

 

[Funfire240]

Thank you for this thread! DD will be 8 in 3 weeks - she can't ride a bike and although can sort of tie shoes she can't get it good enough for them to stay. I was worried about the bike and hear about it from a lot of family members that my kids don't ride. DS will be 6 soon and he just can't grasp pedaling to even ride with training wheels. We tried all kinds of riding toys with pedals when as he has been growing up and he has a hard time grasping the concept.

 

[superme80]

My first 2 boys were late potty trainers. We are working on DS #3. My younger 2 were very late walkers, 17 and 18 months. None of my kids can swim. This summer I am forcing swim lessons on them.

I was 16 before I learned to tie my shoes the "right" way. I am the only left handed person in my family. I finally locked myself in my bedroom at my grandparents for over an hour and taught myself. I also didn't get my license until I was 21. The rule in my family was 18, and it took me a few years to be ready.

 

[Magpie]

Doesn't it sort of create issues when you LEAVE your town? Yikes! I'd be lost with no license

On that note, DD15 keeps saying she can't remember which pedal does what - and the car's an automatic. :Facepalm: She's taking her permit test on Monday. Lord help us.

When I travel by air I can't take my car with me anyway, so... why would I need to know how to drive? When my daughter and I went to London, we took the tube everywhere. I wouldn't try to drive anywhere else in Europe, either.

Plus, my city's quite large and it's got an excellent transit system, so it's rare I ever need to leave my town. When I do need to leave town (such as when I had a book launch in Toronto), I take a Greyhound.

Also, my husband has a license, so we do go on occasional road trips together. But, even without him I wouldn't have any difficulty getting around. The car stays parked in our driveway, at least six days out of seven. My husband takes a bus to work!

 

[SoccerDogWithEars]

We found out a few weeks ago DD17 had absolutely no idea how to use the can opener, either. DH and I laughed so hard as she tried to figure it out!

I admit, it is mostly my fault she is out of her element in the kitchen. When she was little, she wanted to "help" me cook. Unfortunately, I am not good with delegating or teaching- 95% of the time, I ended up either doing things for her or shooing her away and just getting it done myself. Now, she is pretty useless at cooking.

I can only use one can opener, which I've nicknamed Trusty Rusty. My parents had it for years, and I took it with me when I moved in with my fiance. I've tried all different kinds, but I just CANNOT get them to work for me.

I didn't know how to make a grilled cheese until he showed me in college. I was a hospitality major and took cooking classes, but somehow that tidbit in life was skipped over.

 

[Poohforyou]

I can only use one can opener, which I've nicknamed Trusty Rusty. My parents had it for years, and I took it with me when I moved in with my fiance. I've tried all different kinds, but I just CANNOT get them to work for me.

I didn't know how to make a grilled cheese until he showed me in college. I was a hospitality major and took cooking classes, but somehow that tidbit in life was skipped over.

Wow, I have no idea if my dd16 knows how to use a can opener. So many things come with pop top lids that I don't think she's ever needed to use one.

She was late to ride and bike and swim but can do both. She likely will be late to learn to drive since she has no interest.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

When I travel by air I can't take my car with me anyway, so... why would I need to know how to drive? When my daughter and I went to London, we took the tube everywhere. I wouldn't try to drive anywhere else in Europe, either.

Plus, my city's quite large and it's got an excellent transit system, so it's rare I ever need to leave my town. When I do need to leave town (such as when I had a book launch in Toronto), I take a Greyhound.

Also, my husband has a license, so we do go on occasional road trips together. But, even without him I wouldn't have any difficulty getting around. The car stays parked in our driveway, at least six days out of seven. My husband takes a bus to work!

Oh trust me, I'd be all over that daily bus ride if I could. And I didn't drive in London, either. I did drive from London to York to Edinburgh to Dundee to Inverness.

I've been SOOOOO many places that buses & cabs just don't go, plus I've been required to rent a car on at least 90% of the business trips I've taken (and have been tapped to drive company vehicles in many jobs as well).

So, really tough for me to fathom

 

[scrapquitler]

Since there were folks who felt the other thread was just a lot of obnoxious bragging, why don't we share some our kids' (and by extension, our) failings? Those things you thought they knew how to do, but it turned out they didn't.

My seventeen year old son told everyone he knew how to ride a bike so he could sign up for an overnight bike trip with his grade 12 class. He did not know how to ride a bike. He got on, he fell off, he got on again... The consequences for him and his knees and palms were pretty much exactly what you'd imagine. My favourite bit was the part where he got lost and ended up cyling in circles in a provincial park, until his teacher eventually tracked him down. A parent took pity on him the next day and gave him a lift home.

And my extremely clever daughter (she was reading Harry Potter by age four) once texted me from a babysitting gig to ask why the water she'd put on the stove wasn't boiling. She'd put the burner on medium, instead of high. She was seventeen! Yeah, I teased her about that.

What about your kids?

My 13 year old son still can't tie his shoes well enough that they stay tied for more than about 10 steps.
My 19 year old daughter still doesn't know how to close the cabinet door after she removes a glass from it.

Neither one of them can ride a bike.

 

[Magpie]

Oh trust me, I'd be all over that daily bus ride if I could. And I didn't drive in London, either. I did drive from London to York to Edinburgh to Dundee to Inverness.

I've been SOOOOO many places that buses & cabs just don't go, plus I've been required to rent a car on at least 90% of the business trips I've taken (and have been tapped to drive company vehicles in many jobs as well).

So, really tough for me to fathom

Well, and to be frank, I couldn't drive even if I wanted to. I have truly awful eyes.

 

[keiraliz]

I'm 22, and I never learned how to ride a bike!

 

[DopeyDame]

Another mom whose kids can't tie their shoes here. (Hanging head in shame...)

 

[Clifton Tesh]

My youngest couldn't tie his shoes forever. We worked with him and worked with him, and he just couldn't get it. He is left handed and the rest of us are right handed, so I guess it seemed backwards to him. His.....ahem....3rd grade teacher was left handed and it took her about 5 minutes to teach him.

I feel his pain I ended up teaching myself to tie my shoes in 2nd grade because I got tired of being made fun of for wearing shoes with velcro straps.

I also never learned to play baseball because no one wanted to pitch to a lefty and no one knew how to teach a lefty to hold the bat. I know how to hold a bat now, but I still can't hit a ball to save my life

 

[DawnM]

My 18 and 16 year olds don't swallow pills. 18 year old just told us he can now, but I haven't seen it.

My 18 year old doesn't drive, and doesn't want to.

I am sure there is more!

 

[Skippy918]

My 7 year old still can't ride a bike or tie his shoes. The thing is, I am more than willing to teach him. He doesn't want to learn.
One of my colleagues just learned to ride a bike at 26.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Attention parents of teens: Ask your kids if they know how to sign their name! Turns out my 16 year old had no idea how to write his signature. DD13, same thing! The lost art of cursive!

 

[whatname]

My daughter can't get eye drops in her eyes. We can't even get them in for her. I don't even want to remember the eye dr visit last year. She was one memorable patient. It's just a horrible fear. She's 17

I can't do eye drops either. I have to put them on the side of my nose and let them slide in. I have problems at the eye dr. too. I don't even want to tell you what happens when I experiment with contacts.

 

[justgrace]

Well, for me - I was a pretty late walker because my mom wouldn't put me on the ground. She said that the floor was "too dirty" even though our house was always clean, especially the floors. Now I know where I got my germaphobe problem from!

 

[AllisonK]

I don't have kids, but I was 20 when I got my license. Three failed road test attempts between 16 and 19, but at 17 I was diagnosed with a cornea condition (that explains the first failed road test... my peripheral vision was next to none until I was fitted for hard contacts). I did eventually get my license, though. I wanted it but I hate driving to this day (I will be 27 in a few weeks) because people in my area drive crazy... But the summer after I got my license I was going back to college and neither of my parents could help me move in, so my dad and I packed the car and I drove off to New York alone (from Mass.) so that really did help my confidence in my driving abilities. I started pumping gas when I got my permit at 16, but I had friends in college who couldn't, and my grandma couldn't either (and she was driving until just over a year ago at 84!).

I was also terrible at getting contacts in (both the soft ones when I first started wearing lenses) and the hard ones a few years later, and some mornings I still have trouble with them! (Especially if I am tired...) I learned how to ride a bike when I was about 6, so not super late, but late. I still double knot my shoes, though! Oh, and the pill swallowing thing took until at least 7th grade...

 

[DisneyOma]

Older daughter (24) cannot wipe up a spill on the counter without it going everywhere. She just spreads it around. She also cannot paint without getting it everywhere. And she can parallel park, but can't pull into a parking lot space. Pretty funny for a Bioengineer.

Younger daughter (22) doesn't have her license yet.

I can't cook worth poop.

Husband is not allowed to touch the laundry. He thinks everything goes together.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

My son was between 3.5 and 4 before he was potty trained.

My son too. He was big for his age also 40 inches at 2 1/2 so people would give me side looks all the time.

My pediatrician said he never seen one of his patients go to kindergarten wearing diapers. I told him my son would be the first.

DD was potty trained by 2 years old.