Life Skills To Teach Your Kid Before Moving Out
Nothing truly inaugurates adulthood like a place of one’s own. This leap toward independence also comes with increased responsibilities, of course, and not every young person who gets their first apartment or house may know exactly how to manage all those responsibilities. As parents, it’s on you to make sure your kids have learned the important lessons they didn’t learn in school—lessons of everyday self-reliance. Whether they’re off to college or entering the workforce, here are just a few of the most important life skills to teach your kid before moving out.
Cooking
Relying on takeout is one of the costliest mistakes people make as they get used to living on their own. With the rapid propagation of app-based delivery services, ordering out isn’t just more convenient than ever, the delivery surcharges that come with that convenience have made it more expensive than ever, too. By doing one’s own grocery shopping and cooking, the newly independent among us can not only save a great deal of money on a necessary cost of living, but also cut down on sodium and preservatives, open a new avenue of creative expression, and maybe even impress some new people along the way.
Cleaning
Without mom or dad around to clean up messes, it can be easy for your child to quickly find themselves wallowing in their own filth. Even naturally fastidious youths can let their standards slip a little when there’s no oversight. Make sure your young adult moving out has a full complement of cleaning supplies and the tips and tricks to use them well.
Doing Laundry
Some fortunate—or unfortunate—souls make it all the way to their eighteenth birthdays without ever having done a load of laundry on their own. One of the most important life skills to teach your kid before moving out is to ably handle the washer and dryer—after all, you won’t be around the empty the hamper anymore. Make sure they know all the fundamentals of washing and drying clothes, from avoiding fading and shrinkage by using cold-water cycles to actually reading the instructions on all those tags. Even if learning or working from home has your kids living in sweatpants and pajamas, it’s still necessary to make sure they can handle their laundry themselves.
