August 18, 2011
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Several kids from the youth group and I are brainstorming the potential for an interesting service project. If you could answer any or all of the following questions we would be very grateful! Thanks for your insight!

 

1. What skills do you find yourself wishing you had equipped yourself with before you left home? In an ideal world, how would you have learned them?

2. What skills were you very grateful you already had before you left home? How did you obtain them?

3. What skills do you think are vital to success, but can only be learned through life experience (as opposed to book learning)? 

4. Are there any skills you spent a lot of time developing that now seem irrelevant to your life? If so, what and why?

5. Have you ever had the desire to help others, but turned down opportunities to serve because you felt woefully inadequate? If so, tell me about it. 

6. What are some skills you don't personally have the capacity to pursue, but really support, admire and encourage others to pursue? 

Leave a comment:
 
 


Colleen Buck
  August 18, 2011 5:01pm

#2 - the skills i'm very grateful I had prior to leaving home was cooking, baking, how to take care of children, serving others, hospitality, giving heart. I was the oldest and my mother worked outside of the home. So I was taught by my mother how to be a mother, housewife chores and all because I took care of my younger sisters, made suppers, cleaned house, went grocery shopping, mowed the lawn. You name it and I was taught how to do it. My father was a banker and he taught me all about saving and budgeting, etc.
Chara Watson
  August 18, 2011 5:22pm

This is just a list as it comes to mind, based on all of the questions, as they come to mind. Sorry if it's a little redundant.
Cooking and nutritional skills
How to cook a roast or roast a chicken or make bread (basic stuff)
What makes a meal nutritionally balanced.
How do you read nutrition labels
How to organize/pay bills
How to balance a checkbook
How to make a budget
Communication skills-
How to deal with difficult people
How to disagree with someone without being disagreeable
How to write Thank You/Encouragement notes
How to sew/knit/crochet/mend clothing
Laundry skills (what you do when a crayon gets in the dryer or get bleach on your clothing, for instance)
How to make/keep an organizer/calendar
How do you stand up for yourself
How do you negotiate with others
Basic childcare
How to take care of yourself in spite of family/work demands
How to say no to other people
How to grow a garden
How to question authority (bosses, drs, teachers) respectfully
How to plan (financially) for your future
How to file taxes
How to plan meals
How to bake/decorate a cake
How to make friends
How to move to a new city (change of address, packing, moving trucks/movers, look for a new residence)
How to keep medical records for your family
How to build a wardrobe (what pieces are essential? What shouldn't you waste your money one?)
How to create a cleaning schedule and keep house

That's all I've got for now.
colleen Buck
  August 18, 2011 5:28pm

#1 - skills I wish I would have had would be better communicator. This skill was lacking in our family. Wish I could have learned it thru my parents, but should have taken a class in it.
#3 vital to success - communication, being able to handle all types of people ( this one can be read about, but life experiences really teach you), skill of contentment(if u can call this a skill), being willing to take risks
#6 counseling skills
Stefanie
  August 25, 2011 8:18am

1 - Before leaving home, I wish that I had paid better attention to the financial education my parents tried to provide me. I had no idea how loans really worked. And, this may or may not fall under the "skill" category completely but: I wish I'd developed an ability to ask for help and communicate with others when under stress... I think I lacked this in part because of my culture shock/adaptation to the US as a teenager and my fear of not being understood/accepted.

2 - Cooking and housework! Although my personal discipline in doing them regularly developed a little more slowly, my mother made sure we three kids knew how to clean thoroughly and how to follow a recipe and we all had more than basic cooking skills.
3 - Accountability, especially to self... the ability to listen to and even welcome criticism and apply it or toss it depending on it's truth... being a good judge of character, "wise as serpents and harmless as doves", keeping your mouth shut and listening first.
4 - I am going to have to think about this one.
5 - I can't recall a specific occasion, but I know there have been many times I've gone out of my way to avoid a situation where I might be asked to help. And I've done that because I didn't want to be "found out" and have people discover I really don't know anything.
6 - Anything that requires a high level of skill in the arts/crafts/creative fields. These are the areas I have just enough gift or skill to make people *think* I can do more... I really admire those who use their creative abilities to help others.

-- This is great! I'd love to hear more about it and help in any way ;)
Sam Deitch
  September 12, 2011 10:17pm

1. I wish I'd had the life skills to feel comfortable as a single adult - how to pay bills online, do my taxes, keep up with vehicle registration and maintenance, etc etc etc. My Dad tried to teach me lots of that stuff, but I don't really understand things until I DO them, so maybe I wish I just had the confidence and foresight to learn to learn. You know? To delve into something totally new and not be afraid of failure.

2. I'm so thankful that I can write/spell. I think it's really necessary that everyone feels comfortable articulating and communicating through some medium or other (conversation, or writing) before they leave home. So much in life is easier when you can express your thoughts clearly and intelligently.

3. Depends what you mean by "success" but #1 is probably my answer here, too - I wish I wasn't so afraid of failure.

4. I can't think of any time that LEARNING was useless. I spent HOURS doing things that I don't do anymore, like practicing for softball, or memorizing the names of dog breeds, but I was learning in a different way.

5. Can't think of a good example off the top of my head.

6. MAN I wish I had the stomach for nursing. I think that's a really admirable profession.
Carrie
  September 15, 2011 11:06am

1. Anything to do with fixing anything mechanical. I'm not mechanical minded so anything involves technical handy work, I'm not so good at. I think I would prefer to see some hands-on simulations, with some guided practice, written down rules/descriptions of the how-tos, and some independent practice follow-up with someone there to "catch me when I fall." A lot of exposure would help.

2. Cooking (learned through experience in the family; always was in the kitchen with my mom and siblings); Organizing (just my nature; always tweaking and perfecting it); List-making (ditto); budgeting (observation and management of my own money through personal responsibility); card writing

3. Self-motivation, personal responsibility, work ethic, if you consider those skills

5. We've had some sewing projects at church to sew for some mission work and although I'm proficient, I keep forgetting how to thread a needle on a sewing machine properly because I don't have one myself and it's been awhile since I've used one. That's a skill that I personally need a lot of repetition with to feel confident that I can be more useful than a hindrance.

6. Anything handy-man-esque...
  AmyGaskin: "Do you hope other women compare themselves to you?" OUCH. t.co/4yIGjabq #hardquestions