What essential "Life Skill" did you neglect to teach your child before college?

[lotsofquests]

One skill that my son learned on his own was how to pick good roommates. The four of them have complementary skills. I am not sure of my son's contributions (maybe social planning?) but roommate A is the best cook and the most compulsive cleaner. Maybe a fellow CCer trained him.

Shoot4moon, I too hope that my son has/will learn graciousness. The ability to make others feel good about themselves is invaluable.

[MidwestMom2Kids_]

Good grief! Apparently I did not teach my son that you need to tip the person who cuts your hair when you have it cut at Wal-Mart. He thought that salon rules did not apply at Wal-Mart. I told him tips are even more important there. I swear, that kid is reading Nickled and Dimed when he is home for Christmas.

[Lakemom]

MidwestMom2Kids_, that was good book. My son recently took a cab from school to the airport and I texted him how much to give so he would know.

[MizzBee]

DS texted last week that he needed stamps and wondered if I could mail him some. I told him to go to his bookstore. He said he had looked on the racks and didn't see any. He was amazed to learn that if he asked, they probably had them behind the counter. Wonders never cease.

[gosmom]

MizzBee.....got a similar call from my S. Could I send him some stamps?.

Ummmm....where he picks up his mail is a US Post Office substation--I bet they have stamps there, was my comment. Further, I reminded him I had sent some with him
when he returned to college.....

"But Mom, I used those for all the thank you notes you told me to write..."

Always the Eddie Haskell.....

[CountingDown]

I swear, that kid is reading Nickled and Dimed when he is home for Christmas.

I read that book a few years ago and it was one of the few books I have handed my kids and said, 'You MUST read this.'" It certainly opened their eyes and they started to understand the economic circumstances other parts of our family are in.

When S2 went to Model UN tournaments, he was always the one who left a tip for the housekeeper. His roommates never understood why. He also decided not to apply to a school that had housekeeping for the students' rooms. He found the attitude taken by the tour guide regarding the housekeeping staff to be offensive and insensitive.

[Barfly]

They need to know how to polish their shoes - both boys and girls! It looks tacky when women wear shoes with the right heal worn from driving. But I see a lot of that when students are dressed up for interviews.

[shawbridge]

It is not clear ShawSon knows how to tie a tie. He seems to take it off pre-tied. But, he's always been weak with certain kinds of manual dexterity.

Good one, Barfly. I am confident ShawSon has never polished shoes. He wears dress shoes once every blue moon. [Then again, I probably have done so in years and just have it done at hotels or airports]. ShawD maybe? She's got enough pairs of heels. She, on the other hand, hasn't learned to drive.

I may have mentioned this above but one of our friends has two kids, one of whom is an associate at one of the major US law firms and is married to a doctor finishing up her residence. The other is a talented singer but also great with foreign languages including Arabic decided to become a music teacher. She's younger and not married. The mom took her and said, "It is fine to choose a career path with lower income prospects. But, if you are going to choose that, you have to know how to do a lot of things for yourself. And she started teaching her lots of basic skills she didn't have -- painting an apartment, building things herself, fixing things ... ." I thought the message was exactly right. You can choose a path with a lower income (the parents do pretty well) but you have to set your material expectations to match your income and substitute labor for capital.

[fendergirl]

this might sound silly but teach them that stamps go in the upper right hand corner.....