Things your parents never taught you

[peach]

What do you wish your parents had taught you /prepared you for that they didn't?

My parents did a great job raising me. But I have little things that I wish they would have shown me, that would have made life easier.
My mom never taught me about makeup or shaving or anything like that. I got to a certain age and asked if I could wear makeup and she said yes. I bought and experimented with it and learned on my own, but she never took me to the drug store to help me figure out how to match foundation to my skin, never showed me how to apply eyeliner or anything like that. I think her makeup routine was pretty basic so maybe she didn't know a lot herself, but I wish she would have come along and helped me choose a mascara....waterprooof or no? Volumizing or lengthening? all that stuff you know? Same with shaving...I asked if I could shave my legs and she gave me a disposable razor. Wish she would have given me a 2 or 3 sentence instruction and some shaving cream along with it...

I am big into makeup now, and I watch a lot of youtube tutorial videos. One girl said in a video that the comment she gets the most when she meets fans is that their mom never taught them about makeup and how to be girlie, and she has filled that role in their lives for them. I totally relate.

And my dad never taught me anything about cars. He taught me to drive and gave me the keys to the family car when I needed it. I wish he would have taken me to the gas station and walked me through how to pump gas, how to fill up the washer fluid, etc. My boyfriend ended up teaching me all of that.. I mean, yes, any moron can figure out how to pump gas but my boyfriend taught me things like there is a holder for the gas cap on the inside of the gas door..I always set it on top of my car. 

[Deleted]

I wish my mom would've taught me how to iron better.
She's like me, really only did it for funerals and weddings. She's good at it though. I'm good enough to do the ocassional work shirt and smooth some curtains but that's about all.

I've been learning from my MIL. She learned when she was 6 to iron her school uniforms on her own. Everything comes out professional and perfect.

[pitterwoo]

I wish my mom would have taught me more about cooking. Really it's not her fault though because I wasn't very interested and also very impatient. A real pleasure to work with I'm sure!

[McGavin]

My dad was a whiz about investments and savings. I did inherit his frugalness and he did get me investing at an early age but he didn't teach me anything about it. He just told me to do.

[poisonkisses]

Hold up, there's a holder for the gas cap on the inside of the gas door?? I have always put the gas cap on the roof or the trunk, and you mean to tell me that some/all of those cars might have had a holder?

[mrs.jacinthe]

I was busy
being shocked that there are cars that don't come with the gas cap tethered ...

[RoxMonster]

Besides checking the oil and filling my gas tank, I learned nothing about cars (though at least my dad tried!)
I never learned how to cook. My mom hates cooking and though she did it so I could have good things to eat (my dad shared in the cooking too) I was never interested to learn and she was not interested in teaching me. Oh well, H loves to cook (seriously considered culinary school), so it works out that he does the cooking in our house.

[sailorgray]

Cooking - my mom can whip up anything from anything. She once took leftover salad from my house and made delicious soup. Not me.

Cleaning - I am not a good cleaner, but neither is my mom.  My SIL can make something spotless in no time and without just hiding the crap somewhere.

Finances - I totally screwed up my credit in college b/c I didn't know all of the little rules. I do now, but had to learn the hard way. I wish they would have taught me about saving, too. Luckily, my H is good at it.

I also wish they would have pushed me more to get involved with music, sports or something.  I don't really have any extra-curricular activities or hobbies.

[sierramist03]

I'm dairy on the ironing. My grandma actually laughed at my while watching me iron. But nobody actually showed me how.

Also the handy stuff Dh is teaching me but we never really did much around the house when I was kid.

[TBM]

How to speak Spanish. They (their parents and their siblings) only spoke it when they didn't want us (meaning all kids in the family) to know what they were saying. My dad was fluent in several languages and pretty close in a few more. He could have at least taught us the one that we could use....especially considering that we grew up in So AZ.

I feel like the foreign language gene skipped a generation. One daughter is not fluent but is pretty good with Spanish, and the other is close to fluent in French and is fluent in Japanese, while I struggled with HS Spanish. I do understand it much better than I speak it.

[SusanBAnthony]

There aren't any big gaping holes for me. If I had asked my parents to teach me various things (car maintenance, wood working, etc) I am sure they would have. My mom did teach me sewing, cooking, and ironing. My dad is amazing at house projects and woodworking, but I was never interested as a kid, and now we don't live near each other, so it is hard to work on that kind of thing for a short trip with two kids underfoot. Maybe someday...

My mom doesn't really wear make up either so I can't blame her for not teaching me. If anything she was a good role model that you don't need to wax/shave/paint yourself to be beautiful. No judgement wt all, I just dont have a mom that i would have expected to teach me. Now, my grandma, otoh.... She always traveled with two suitcases, one with clothes, and one with cosmetics, lol. But her taste in makeup did not align with mine! She was of the "more is more" school of thought.

My parents taught me by the opposite example about saving for retirement. Oops.

[MrsAxilla]

Jan 19, 2013 20:45:36 GMT -5 poisonkisses said:

Hold up, there's a holder for the gas cap on the inside of the gas door?? I have always put the gas cap on the roof or the trunk, and you mean to tell me that some/all of those cars might have had a holder?

I remember when I first discovered this, I was amazed!

[sailorgray]

[tarheels]

My mom did an incredible job. My dad died when I was 4, so mom did it all. You want drywall hung? Plumbing? Electric? Landscaping? DIY was a way of life for me growing up, and so was being practical and smart about things, not doing things the hard way. There were formal lessons either from her or my grandmother on all the housekeeping tasks. And DIY D&R lessons from her and my grandfather.

The only thing I wish she had taught me was how to sew. OMG, she used to make her own suits, her own prom dresses, you name it. She could sew! But for her when she was growing up, having homemade clothes was a mark of not being well off, so as soon as she could, she bought her clothes from a store and never looked back. The Brownies had to teach me how to sew on a button! lol She won't even hem her own drapes now.

She can't cook, but neither can her mother. In fact, no one in my family can really cook, so I don't "blame" her - she had/has no idea how to cook, so it wasn't something she could have taught me. I'm a great cook by recipe and am just now beginning to develop cooking by taste.

My dad spoke seven languages and I had such a gift when I was little! I took four languages all through school, and could probably get around in Europe ok today with the help of a phrase book, but it's not like I've kept up with any of them. I wish he had lived to teach me some of them.

[aimeedyan]

I wish my parents had taught me more about financial responsibility. Though, both of them are downright awful with money and continue to struggle but surely they knew what you're supposed to do... it wasn't until I was older that I realized my dad encouraged me in making some less than financially sound decisions. DH's dad would have steered him away.

My mom didn't teach me to cook, either. She hated it, and made the same dishes over and over again - none of which I'd ever make myself. It was interesting to me once we got married so I just taught myself. She likes eating at my house

[april37]

peach, I feel like I could take your answer and copy it word for word. I was never taught about makeup or shaving either.

[emjacobs]

Cleaning, finances, and girly things (makeup, hair, etc). I am smart enough to explain why you should do things with your money and why doing things is smart but I don't know how to actually act on these things. The down side of being smart is that I was so wrapped up in school and horses when I was a teenager that I never did the dances or girly things and I'm useless with styling my hair and doing anything fun with makeup.

[bunnymendelbaum]

Manners.

My parents were pretty good about all the other stuff: Mom taught me to sew and Dad is very handy and great with cars, but we are a very informal family and I had crappy manners.

I was about 14 the first time someone said "nice to meet you". I replied really enthusiastically "thanks!". I had never heard it before and just thought the person was being really nice. Doh.

I'd like to think I have good manners now, but sometimes when I'm with my mom I'm shocked when she doesn't say please or thank you.

[auntie]

Both my parents were teachers by vocation and personality.

I learned pretty much any of the basic things I needed to know around the house with the exception of electrical and plumbing which are the one spot where my father can't go. His dad was electrocuted; he avoids wiring at all costs.

I know how to sew well, iron properly, cook well, and bake. My mother was a nutjob about etiquette- I can bang out a TY note in 2 minutes and tell a butter knife from a butter spreader. But she never taught me to knit or tat. Her sisters can all knit and crochet like fiends, but she isn't spatial by nature and never learned well enough to teach.

[Deleted]

My Mom was a Martga Stewart & taught me most things. The 2 biggest lacking is cooking (she's a good cook but I was always too busy around dinner time to watch/learn) & sewing. She stopped sewing when I was around 9 when she went back to work so I never learned. My 6yr old wants a sewing machine for her birthday (just turned 6) & my mom is gonna show her how to use it. <3. My mom definitely taught me pretty much everything else...gardening, cleaning majorly, makeup, ironing, laundry, etiquette, home care/maintenance.

My Dad was not a guys guy. He was a banker & didn't do much else. I never learned much DIY, car, lawn care, etc because he didn't even do that stuff. I don't think his parents did much to teach him. He had nannies/housekeepers (SAHM though) & then his Dad was away at war. He left for college at 16. The Marines probably taught him the most in terms if day to day life chores.

[treedimensional]

I wish my parents had talked to me about having goals. How to set them, how to achieve them. But they couldn't, because didn't know anything about goals, and had very few of their own.
I like to talk to people about their goals, and it's really amazing how many people have NEVER thought about them beyond 'graduate, get married, have kids'. Some people spend their whole lives not knowing what they want to be when they grow up.

[Deleted]

I feel like I wasn't taught much. Dad's way of teaching me about saving money was to take 1/2 of every monetary gift and put it in the bank. No reason given. Nobody ever said, "If you save this money you can do A, B, or C with it later." Mom is a horrible cook, but can DIY like a champ. She didn't bother to teach me how though. I learned about cleaning/home care, decorating, make up, DIY, etc. all on my own.

[katie4253]

Honestly, I cannot think of anything. They taught me basic car care, my mom wouldn't let me walk out of the house looking like a hooker with my makeup, they taught me how to paint and do basic repairs around the house.  My mom taught me how to iron.  They were terrible savers, but taught us to save. 

They weren't perfect, but when I left for college I felt like I was prepared to handle most things.

[Deleted]

My parents took care of all the basics and a lot of Parenting 2.0. ROTH IRA opened at 16, long lectures on the importance of good credit and responsible CC use, cleaning, camping, DIY/home repair skills, laundry.

They failed me in the social skills and drinking like an adult department.

I've always been an awkward person, and they never really guided me on on saying not-awkward things in social settings. I'm not sure if that can be taught or not; maybe I was doomed to be a weirdo no matter what.

My mom was a teetotaler Southern Baptist, so there was no question of me ever learning to drink responsibly from my parents. So I was then just thrown in in college at a hard drinking mostly male school and was a heavy binge drinker with other attendant issues. I've finally got the 2 drinks, not-drinking-to-get-trashed thing going on most of the time, but it took me a while. I wish they'd taken a more European approach on the topic rather than "ALCOHOL IS EEEEEEEVILLLLLL!"

[adhdfashion]

If a woman from the 50's was supposed to know how to do it.....I learned it. Because my mom was raised by her grandmother mostly. But as far as cars and how to use a lawn mower. Forget about it. I know nothing.

[ktzmoh]

Cleaning... Laundry, ironing, mopping , everything. I guess it's not rocket science, but I wish they had taught me to do it consistently and regularly. I wish they had taught me to make it habitual.

[Blueper]

My dad is a licensed carpenter, and all I know is how to tile and paint. This is definitely my fault since I was terrified of power tools when I was younger.

[thewop]

Like tree, I wish my parents taught me about having goals. I also wish my mom taught me more about beauty/hair removal. I'm a hairy Italian, and it wasn't until I was in my late teens/early 20's that I discovered waxing (as simple as my eyebrows). I shaved my legs/underarms, but nothing beyond that. My mom was sort of into hair and make up, but her look was very (still is) dated. I was never really taught to be girly. I wore a school uniform from 3-8th grade, and then had a very strict dress code the first 2 years of high school, so girly fashion was foreign to me. I didn't own a pair of jeans until I was 13 maybe. I didn't own new clothes besided my school uniform until I got a job and paid for them myself. It was sad! Going to cosmetology school was awesome and really helpful with teaching me updated hair, makeup, and fashion. Now I'm obsessed.