We need "Life Skills" Tutors for teenagers

Image Source: http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/1093421/life-skills-to-teach-your-kids-before-college

When I was 20 I had a credit card, a car, I needed to know how to cook, do laundry and so on. I knew little about any of those things. Today I am 34 and when I reflect upon my younger self I realize just how little I knew and understood about the world around me. Some of the things I could pick up over time. That's part of growing up, right? But some things can have immediate consequences.

I don't think teenagers today are necessarily worse than I was a decade and a half ago. But I do think they are getting short-changed. Too many parents and teachers trust that kids will figure this stuff out. But there in lies a divide that I feel exists. We don't say the same thing about math skills, or skills in biology or an history class. The teenager needs to work hard to learn it, or get a tutor, or do poorly. Those are the widely perceived options. Plenty of good educators and good parents jump in to intervene when a student or child seems to be struggling in one of these areas.

Yet for some reason we don't apply the same logic to things like: creating a budget, how credit cards work, how to write a professional letter or email, how to create a resume, and many others.

The teenager is just supposed to figure that stuff out.

Many do, but many stumble along the way, I know I did. I know as a 22-year-old I was making mistakes in these areas that could have been avoided. But I did not understand and I frequently was "faking" understanding and comprehension because at that age you feel infallible and you have other priorities.

The problem has become better identified by some, and even better addressed. A high profile university near me now requires all incoming freshmen to take 2 semesters of a class that combines typical english class skills, such as learning how to write a research paper, and combines it with things like how to give a speech and how to write a professional letter. But that's the successful exception that proves the role. People with a lot of money and resources see the need for this and are acting on it, when most don't.

We need more affordable options here. If public schools can't carry this burden then parents should try to. Occasionally I've seen "Life Skills" tutors or coaches. Half the time its for some kind of remedial program, such as helping middle-age people to get independent or to get back on their feet, long after they've left their teenage years behind.

I believe this notion needs to be expanded upon. Just as parents hire math tutors or foreign language tutors or send their child to piano lessons. We also need life skills tutors for those children, from around age 15 to 19. Parents and educators need to adjust their expectations and expect or demand that a teenager will know these things by around the time that individual is an adult. If there's a demand, the supply will follow.

The real working world feels less forgiving than it used to be. There are only so many good jobs, so many good opportunities. There are many marketing traps and bad options. From the junk food on the shelf to the credit card that's so easy to use. Young people striving to build a life will and often do, find it harder than ever to achieve their goals without falling into some of these pitfalls that attach a cost to them. Once they do, it costs time and money to climb out of them. This is happening in a world where employers seem to demand nothing less than the perfect candidate, as the one they will hire. The young adults who seem to have it all figured out already. The ones who can pass ever more stringent background checks with flying colors.

Some look at this and say "that's just life" and we create things like #Adulting to laugh off our recently learned (but shouldn't I have figured this out five years ago?) skills and mishaps. But I think we can do better. The next generation should have the opportunity to learn faster and better than I did. I want the next generation to know at 20 what I knew at 25. This is not impossible, it is simply managing expectations. The world is only going to get more challenging and more demanding. They need to be better prepared for it.

This doesn't have to start big, it starts small. It starts with parents. It starts with guardians. It starts with educators and counselors. It starts with conversations among family members. It starts with me, it starts with you. It starts with one simple thing, deciding this should matter more than it does now.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading.