Survey reveals the key life skills parents wish they’d been taught at school

Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email

Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

How to save money, start a business and look after their mental health are among the key life skills adults wish they’d been taught at school.

Research of 1,000 mums and dads of children aged 11-16 revealed they also wish they’d been taught how to organise their finances, create a CV and use maths in real life.

A number of parents wished they’d learned practical skills such as how to change a tyre, put up wallpaper or plaster over a crack.

While others say it would have been useful if teachers could have covered the basics on how to speak publicly, the importance of confidence and even how to invest.

Almost nine in 10 parents said they thought self-care skills are more important in adult life than algebra.

However, the majority of mums and dads worry their kid’s potential skills might stifled due to not having access to the right training to thrive – as some think their child could change the world.

A spokesman from new online learning service 8billionideas, which commissioned the poll, said: “The insights from these results have been really interesting, revealing many practical everyday learnings wish they’d picked up earlier in life.

“It’s easy to forget how many things you pick up through real life experiences, from simply doing maths when you’re shopping all the way through to launching your own business.

“These aren’t always things that can be learned in school but are vitally important in getting one step ahead when it comes to the future.”

It also emerged many think ‘life skills’ programmes should be offered to kids at school – delivering knowledge about how to budget or start a business.

Nearly half of parents don’t feel prepared enough to teach their kids important life skills.

While two thirds of children learn life skills from their parents, a few their kids pick up learnings from YouTube according to the survey via OnePoll.

Of the 78 per cent of parents that have home schooled their children in the last year, several are worried they’re falling behind in maths, while 36 per cent think they’re behind in English.

Practical life skills parents think their kids have picked up from being at home in the last year include cooking and cleaning, while a few say they’ve learned how to look after their mental health – and some have used maths in real life situations.

However, two third of parents would like to offer their children more opportunities to learn useful skills – but don’t know where to start.

Although creative kids are finding their own ways to harness their energies, with 41 per cent having written their own original story, creating a YouTube video or TikTok content.

Some used code to create something and while others have designed a unique logo.

Of the 71 per cent of children who said they have an idea of what they’d like to be when they grow up, preference was to go into business or medicine.

A spokesman from 8billionideas, added: “Parents are clearly really keen to give their children the best chance in life and supporting them in any way they can.

“And the opportunity to learn certain skills that could help them thrive plays a major part in that – but it can be difficult to know where to start.”

SWNS