Teaching Teens Independent Living Skills

Some say it's because of the economy, others say it's simply the Y generation. But according to a New York Times op-ed and information from the Census Bureau, today's 20-somethings are at least five years behind their counterparts back in the 70s, their parents. Here's what used to classify an adult completing school, leaving home and becoming financially independent, eventually marrying and having a child. We have now with us Jim Clark, licensed social worker and president and CEO of Daniel, Florida's oldest child service agency. Jim, good to see you this morning. Good to see you. Thanks for having me. We're basically talking about maturity, right? Maturity and preparing teens to become self-reliant. We just came back from a national conference, and it was all focused on teaching teens those independent living life skills that they'll need to be able to be self-reliant individuals. And while we focused on homeless and at-risk youth, the reality is those skills and those techniques are applicable to any child, any teen that may need to start to learn those traits. It prolongs adolescence. It's kids who don't want to leave the house, right? I mean, who love, you know, the safety net of being at home, right? Well, that's kind of where our economy is, but those techniques that everybody needs to have, those children need to have, if they don't have them before they leave home and then they come back again that second time, you're going to deal with even more complicated things. What can you teach your kids? Well, you should begin with making sure their personal health and hygiene. I mean, while that might be simplistic or seem simplistic, the reality is that's the beginning of self-regulating your behavior, being able to make sure that you're taking care of yourself, things of that sort. And this is young, right? I mean, what age are we talking about here? Oh, pre-teens is really where you need to start at. But indeed, any time that a child is now in middle school, they should be able to get themselves up by themselves, have an alarm clock, be able to know what kind of things that they have for the day. The second thing I would say, too, is being able to use community resources. Most people begin with teaching their child how to have a library card. A library card can be helpful not only because of the fact that it's teaching them that resource, but you can economically, you can not only get library books, but you can get videos, CDs, and other type of items. But that's what you want to do, teach them how to do that. And, of course, I always say the basic cleaning skills and the basic cooking. I think that every child should be able to prepare a meal for themselves. They should be able to shop with the family. One of the things and little techniques that you often can use is to have your child, particularly at the age of 14, be able to prepare a meal for the family on a fixed budget. We used to have our child do that. And after about the 15th time of having spaghetti, we said, you've got to change something, you've got to do something a little bit different. Grilled cheese again. That's right. It's all about building the base, right? That's correct. That's a foundation you want to instill early on, right? Absolutely. And probably one of the most important things that you can teach a teen is really how to handle money. Handling money and being able to do that is one of those most important traits that's going to lead into adulthood. So make sure that you pay attention to that. And when you say handle money, bank account? Bank account. I think I'm a big person that thinks that allowances are very helpful. That kind of gets you there. And when a child is ready for job skills or wants a job, teaching those interviewing skills. And even if they don't do a job, I say volunteer. You still should have a resume even if you're going to go volunteer. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, when 16 hits, you're driving and you're trying to get work. So you've got to know what you're doing out there and have the help from parents. That's correct. Good stuff, Jim. Hey, thanks as always. Thank you.