Yeah I don’t get the right side out thing. Many many things we have do better washed inside out. Black leggings. All sorts of denim. Shirts with decorative grommets etc…
As far as checks, spouse and I haven’t had a checkbook in at least 6 years. My two young adult children don’t have checkbooks, either. We’re all managing just fine.
As far as knowledge, knowing how to shoot a gun. We all live just fine without that skill.
Cheering – I can hear DD1’s cheer team sponsor now -“Stop, you are cheering for the wrong team. We’re on offense not defense now.” DD1 and several of the girls did not bother to learn the rules but they had great school spirit!
ShawSon couldn’t learn cursive writing. Hasn’t been a big problem (I never learned cursive for different reasons and I have survived). He couldn’t do arithmetic quickly. Was a summa cum laude math major.
I just bought a new car. DH did too, after his was totaled when a snowplow sheared the entire length of it (and kept on going). Both have spare tires. I know in theory how to do it, but I’m not gonna.
My TOYOTA Prius Prime that I bought brand new in Dec 2018 has NO spare tire and special instructions if it ever needs to be towed. It does have an emergency inflater and fix a leak that will ruin the tire and sensors. I only drive in populated areas and have AAA. I have never changed a tire more charged a battery in my life but have had AAA cone as desired.
We bought and regularly renew AAA with 100 mile towing for our kids for my peace of mind. D has used it a few times—not sure if S ever has. No idea whether either kid knows how to charge batteries, change tires or change oil and honestly I’m fine with them choosing to pay for these services.
Both kids are able to write a check, make sure they always live below their incomes and pay their CCard & any other balances as soon as their statements are sent (via snail or email). To me, these matter much more than whether they opt to even have a checkbook (mostly they opt not to).
I’m sad S has handwriting that can be challenging to read but have let that go as mostly folks are able to decipher it and mostly folks type everything anyway.
A few years ago my 11 year old F150 got T-boned at an intersection. The spare had never been removed. Even the auto guy couldn’t get it loose with the long turning thingee. Had to go buy a tire, return to disabled vehicle, and put it on. I suppose the lesson is make sure you get the tire free every couple of years.
I have neck and shoulder issues. My guess is I’m not strong enough to turn lug nuts and also not strong enough to trust I’m getting them back on tight.
My list of what I don’t want them to know is much shorter than what I DO want them to know. Algebra II is required in my state to graduate, and I feel that’s a useless skill for many people.
“I do need to confirm that I have a good spare for a Louisiana rode trip.”
Definitely do that, @TQfromtheU. Our roads are awful. 
I made by kids change a tire before they could drive by themselves. They each have AAA cards as well. But often times AAA has long wait times (same is true for manufacturer road side assistance programs). They know not to change a tire on a busy highway. But not all flats happen on busy highways. And you can drive slowly on the shoulder to the next rest stop or exit.
That being said, tires seem to be better now than they were when I was a kid. I can remember having to change them quite often back then. But now (knock on wood) doesn’t seem to happen as often.
I stopped to change a flat tire for an elderly lady a few years ago. She pulled out in front of me and i could tell she had a flat tire. After a couple of minutes, she realized it too. She pulled into a parking lot. I drove past her talking with my wife about whether we should circle back. My wife said she probably had a cell phone and would be fine. I said my mom didn’t have a cell phone and circled back. She didn’t either. She had walked to a nearby house to call her son (but had forgotten his number in her car). Judging by her age, I figured her son might be in her 70s and lived more than an hour away. So I changed her tire. Not sure if my AAA subscription would have changed a tire on a car that wasn’t mine but I didn’t want to wait to find out.
I have a friend who had a BMW with run flat tires and no spare. He took his son to visit Vanderbilt a couple years ago. Had a flat. Because of limited distance he could drive on the flat and it being a weekend, he couldn’t find a replacement tire. Had to get a rental car to come back home and drive back down to pick up his car a week later. As long as possible, I will have a car with a spare tire.
I haven’t balanced my checkbook in 10+ years. Still write a few checks each month. Don’t think my kids have ever written a check but they could learn that online in a couple minutes if necessary.
When I swear…it’s in cursive…
@shawbridge A colleague of my wife’s in CS is one of the slowest thinkers I know. present him with a math problem, and he’ll get back to you in a day or two, or more, but it will almost always be correct. He has also won numerous awards in theoretical CS, and is the head of department at one of the top CS departments in the country.
Despite the rules in all of the HS math competitions, there is no point in a mathematician’s life in which they have a time limit that is measured in hours or even days.
Also, in my experience, no real mathematician is good at arithmetic. For every math course I took, I needed to correct the TA’s arithmetic. My wife has an undergrad in math and CS, and a PhD in theoretical CS. She always asks me to do any arithmetic with numbers that are over two digits.
“The one time I tried it, many years ago, I failed because I couldn’t loosen the lug nuts,” - You do need to know the trick to “crack” (slightly loosen) each lug nut before jacking up the car. (And even then sometimes they are too tight to do yourself.)
DS came home in hs with a flat tire, which we decided to change ourselves due to timing issue instead of usual call to AAA. DH was away, but we knew he has an awesome garage jack bigger/easier than the ones in car trunks. DS did NOT believe me when I told him to crack the lug nuts. We argued a bit, and then I decided to let him try it his way. He tried really hard before sheepishly admitting that I was right and lowering the car. Then he followed my advise. It was a small temp spare, but it was good enough to drive to the tire store.
I balance my checkbook, but my kids don’t. They almost never write paper checks, so they can keep track of the account electronically.
Isn’t there some brain studies that show that writing and learning to write in cursive is beneficial?
Ironing. I don’t think either of my kids has ever touched one. I haven’t in decades (though I starched and pressed DH’s uniforms for years) except to finish off needlework projects.
You mean, the lug wrench?
The last time we blew a tire was out in the middle of nowhere in west Texas. It was on the highway and DH pulled off onto a very narrow shoulder. He didn’t want to change it on that shoulder because there were nevertheless a lot of 18 wheelers on that highway. As I was trying to find a tow to come get us, a pair of rather young state troopers pulled up, turned on their lights to give us space on the highway to limp to the next exit, where they INSISTED on changing our tire for us! Having a spare tire certainly came in handy that day.
I have a daughter whom I showed how to change a tire, & a few years later I discovered I had not shown her how to check tire pressure with a pressure gauge (small pen-like thingee for some of you). Thankfully, some cars now have tire pressure sensors that eliminate the need for this skill. I’m curious how many of the non-tire-changers here ever bothered to learn how to use a pressure gauge back before tire pressure sensors were common. (By the way, I’m not trying to shame anyone…I’m one of the least-mechanical people you will ever find, & I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I do something like change my windshield wipers–which is much harder than changing a tire.)
I hate those pressure gauge things. The air would always go out as I use it, making me geel I’d made a situation worse.
I always use the tire pressure gauge. I’ve had many tires with slow leaks due from parking up against a rough granite curb. I don’t trust the car sensors nor the digital ones at the pumps. I like my little gauge.