By Janet Krebs, CONNECT 4 Kids Parenting Coach
AI may be replacing many, many things in life, but you know what AI will not replace? Learning how to function in everyday life. AI can’t do laundry, make a bed, maintain a house to name a few. While a house doesn’t have to be immaculate, it has to be tidy and healthy, as in it has to be little dust and mold free.
While we marvel at the advances we can’t forget to consider all things that AI will not be able to do. Are we falling short in this area? And is this one of the bridge discussions about this failure to launch?
When our kids leave the nest do they know how to do these things? How to just manage a home, laundry, and things like that. But most importantly, it’s the time management. It’s fitting it into the adult life. Have we modeled for our kids throwing in a load of laundry and then going to do something else and going back and swapping it out from the washer to the dryer and then going to do something else and come back? (That’s how I do laundry which may differ from you but I bet you have a system of sorts.)
I know people who have a laundry day. It’s all they do all day long. They just do load after load after load because there’s a bunch of kids in the house, all of that. Like everyone has their own style, which is not what we’re talking about. Having a strategy, having a style is what I’m talking about. How do we teach young adults how to fit this all in?
You must shop for groceries. You might have to go to the post office. You might have to take an elder parent or a child to an appointment, whatever it is. How do we fit it all in? That’s time management. When kids, young adults are out on their own and they’re in their own place, they’re not overwhelmed with, “Oh, gosh, there is just so much to do.”
Yeah, that’s adulting. There’s a lot to do. And it’s not impossible. We’ve been doing it for generations. But you do kind have to come up with a plan. You have to be organized. Time management is a personal thing, but it’s imperative. So how do we foster that? How do we teach that?
Just a question: What are we doing as adults to help cultivate those skills? And for those parents who think that doing everything for their kids is best for them, please rethink what that’s teaching your children.
While they are home and have you as the backup, this is a great learning lab for them to practice. How else will they know how to figure it out when they’re out on their own and they don’t have you as a backup? Just something to think about.
