At what age did you learn ...

debs626

I never seem to remember being taught things and had to do my fair share of chors when I was a kid. I'm a watch and learn person. I do remember watching a neigbour do up cars and asking him questions but that never did me any good as I have never past my test or owned a car. My step mum let us help with the baking but I still dont know how to make a cake without getting a cook book out. I can build a pc from scratch, which I have never been tought, I have just picked it up as I have gone along. I have a whole list of tallents but there what I have picked up along the way, because if i didnt then the job would never have got done. Being a single mum I am feircy independant and I have a long list of the DIY projects I have completed ( I'm in the middle of boarding out the loft but finances have brought it to a halt) I am naturaly a tidy person and consider myself to be very organised ...... so I suppose that helps. My daughter on the other hand is not as independant as me, she likes things done for her and Im starting to worry that she is becoming very lazy. It takes her all of her time just to tidy her room. Step by step Im trying to get her to become a little more independant. She will do the odd job (empty the dishwasher) and get her own breakfast. I think the art is not to push them into fending for them selfs but standing back and allowing them to go at there own pace.

juno

Sew on a button: about 5ish probably
Knit: I was in year 4! So about 9 I think
Darn: Can't
Crochet: I own some crochet hooks!
Cook: 15 for most things, but I could do simple stuff before that. I'm better at baking though. My sister always begs me to make shortbread.
Clean: 5/6 probably
Patchwork: Can't
Basic budgeting: What's that?! If you run out of money, you just flutter your eyelashes and go "Daaaaadddddy" and get more

culpepper

I learnt nearly everything from books
cleaning
cooking
sewing
knitting
Decorating
I learnt to budget when I was 18 and someone at work said
"You must be loaded,you still live with your mum" and I thought
"Yeah, why arent I?"
We did do HE at secondary school , I remember..open sandwiches and fruit flan made with a bought sponge base , tinned fruit and quick jel. For sewing we made a book cover and a Hessian bag.
I do remember the Binca at primary though.;)
I dont do anything to the car apart from sometimes drive it.

Galtizz

Knitting/ quilling/ crochet/ using a sewing machine properly - my Gran taught me from about 7
Sewing - from about 7 the same, I remember deciding to make a stuffed giraffe (god knows why I picked a giraffe) without a pattern and forgot to make it 3D so it only had 2 legs must have been about 7 or 8 at the time. Used to make my own clothes (mostly skirts) whilst still at secondary school, used to make the patterns using newspaper and an old skirt.
Baking - My Mum taught me to bake (and to lick the bowl out) from about 5
Cooking - Self taught with a bit of help from Dad from 13 and a lot of help from you lot, I cook (almost) everything from scratch now and, if you lot didn't post such helpful easy to follow recipes I'd still be eating processed stuff so thank you all.
Cleaning - I didn't get pocket money unless I dusted the stair posts and vacummed the front room from about 7 or 8 (I got 10p!!)
Budgeting - See cleaning! The 10p I did earnt went in the bank same as birthday money etc. (I was born tight )
Decorating - Self taught from 24. My parents house was decorated in 1975 and it was decorated to last! (still has the same anaglipta wallpaper up now) see, being tight runs in the family.
Cars - Dad attempted and then gave up when I was 17, now it's Daaaad, it's broke!
Map reading - My Dad taught me from an early age and I taught my hubby (and I'm a girl!)

Squidgy

I was never taught to budget, mum and dad, although they had to scrimp and save to begin with, by the time i came along they were reasonably flush so i guess it just never came up. shame really i could of done with some. I wish they would teach it at school.

jo_b_2

Queenie wrote:

... the following skills?

Sew on a button
Knit
Darn
Crochet
Cook
Clean
Patchwork
Basic budgeting (7yo)

I am 28 and can't do any of those things on the list (except cook and budget!)

I think I need to have words with my parents!

Anne_Marie_2

Cooking and baking, learned by watching Mum and helping/hindering her in the kitchen, probably mainly to lick the bowl when she was baking, or eating raw carrot/turnip when making soup. Brings back memories here! Saturday afternoon was baking time - scones, rock buns, victoria sponges. Not sure when this all started, but basic cookery lessons at secondary school were a waste of time for me.

Pastry - definitely my Gran. Her apple and rhubarb pies were wonderful. So watched her making the pastry, and she let me help. Again, not sure, just grew up with it.

Sewing - self taught when I was about 7. Mum must have shown me how to thread a needle, and do basic stitches. Needed to make clothes for my Tressy doll (similar to Sindy and Barbie dolls). Used to handstitch them, until I got a little sewing machine.

Knitting - Remember knitting a doll in primary 2, so would be about 6. Mum taught me how to knit, even though she hated it, and Gran too. I can knit, just don't like it, must be a family thing!

Crochet - my Aunt Alice. Think I was about 13 yrs and wanted a shawl, which was all the rage, and I couldn't afford to buy one. Don't ask me how to crochet now, or follow a pattern!

Cleaning - never really learned this until I was about 15, when Mum found out what my Saturday job entailed - slave labour. Offered me a cleaning routine for same money. Best job ever! Doubt Mum & Dad could afford really to pay me at the time, just furious that I was having to work so hard for so little.

Budgeting - cheesy peeps, thought I had just got into this by joining this board, but.....
Used to get 2 pennies (2d not 2p) every day, Mon-Fri, but not weekends. Could spend on sweets, comics, whatever. Bonus was, if you didn't spend it on sweets, you got a bit of fruit for breaktime. Well, was that not a sneaky bit of parenting? Have used it myself! I wasn't going to spend my money on rubbish, so saved my pennies to buy books, roughly every 2/3 weeks. Must have been 6-7 years old.

Patchwork and darning - that is just sewing, is it not, albeit using different techniques/mediums?

Austin_Allegro

Sewing - learned at school when I was 8
Knitting - my granny taught me at 7 but I only managed a tiny scarf - found it very difficult as I've never been good at complicated procedures
Darning - again taught by my granny when I was about 7
Cleaning - learned from watching my mum, didn't really get into cleaning my room etc until I was about 14
Cooking - never really learned much, found it dull and still do. Picked up a bit in the Scouts and CCF but that's about it.
Budgeting - pretty much as soon as I got pocket money from age 5.

Just in case you're thinking there's a whiff of lavender about me, I did also learn 'manly' things from my father and grandfather like how to use tools, mix cement, lay bricks, use a dipstick, smoke, tie a tie, polish shoes, press trousers etc .

one-non-blonde

I was cooking, baking, cleaning, sewing, knitting, etc for as far as my memory goes back. My mum had all us kids on a nightly dishes rota and as soon as you could carry something you were down for clearing the table or putting the plates away. I was making my own clothes well before I was a teenager but this was led by example as my mum was always knitting and sewing to save money. There were always scones or rock cakes on the table after school so we all caught the baking bug too... how my mum put up with the mess I've no idea. Think I wallpapered my bedroom by about age 12/14.

I'm ashamed to say that I've not passed much onto my own kids though... usually it's so much easier just to do it myself, being such a perfectionist, but I'm going to have to change that or they'll never learn! I did teach my daughter to knit though after someone gave her a 'kit' for a birthday.

Once I left home things kind of fell by the wayside. I've not baked for years (don't want the temptation of cakes in the house!) but I can still run up something on a sewing machine for fancy-dress if required and I knitted my daughter a poncho before Xmas. It's like riding a bike

I didn't learn to change a tyre until fairly recently though but it's something I'm really proud to be able to do (ok so it isn't astrophysics but it's got me out of a few scrapes!).

Thanks to the person who mentioned binca (binka?)... brought back a few memories!

Murtle

What a great thread.....

Originally Posted by Queenie
... the following skills?

Sew on a button
Knit
Darn
Crochet
Cook
Clean
Patchwork
Basic budgeting (7yo)


Sew on a button - would have been in the brownies...
Knit - some unlucky person had the job of trying to teach me when I was in the Guides...I picked the needles up in a similar manner to that I was taught to hold a knife and fork...I then proceeded to carve up the wool :-)
Darning - is that just to do with socks (?) if so...aren't they air holes....
Crochet - never learnt....
Cook - I learnt to cook an egg by the age of 7
Clean - My parents didn't need a dishwasher when they had small children!! We got a 50p pay rise for washing the expensive china after a dinner party without being asked!!! As for hoovering and dusting etc - it was a weekly task for as long as I can remember! Still not very good at it though!
Patchwork - I did HE sewing for GCSE....I even made my own curtains for my flat 5 sets!!! and have my own sewing machine - and overlocker....and still haven't learnt to dust them.....
Budgetting - all the time...I used to spend my paycheck (from first paper round on flowers for my Mum!! and some sweets for me)