Linda Nelson

Public Schools across the United States have left out some of the biggest subjects that should be taught before a student leaves high school. Life Skills. These skills aren’t just reading and writing and arithmetic, these skills are what every individual needs to survive in the real world regardless of whether or not they go on to college.

Back when in the 1970’s, teachers taught classes called Home Economics. Students would learn how to sew, just the basics. There was no need to become a seamstress unless they had a calling for it, but it is a valuable skill to learn. Cooking was another course. How many students graduate not knowing how to cook anything other than ramen noodles or doesn’t come from a can? Cooking classes also involved learning about nutrition and kitchen safety.

Do you pour water on a grease fire? – Absolutely Not!

Then there was shop class. Shop involved learning about power tools that dad keeps in the garage or basement of the house. Why is the safety feature necessary when using a power tool?

The big one- Budgeting

Keeping a budget would be taught in bookkeeping class. It was where students were taught how to fill out a check, a check register, and maintain the balance accurately. They would also learn why you didn’t spend more than what you actually had deposited in the account.

Many adults may have taken these classes for granted, but they just don’t teach them to our kids anymore. When they graduate, they won’t be as prepared for life on their own, not like back in the day when teachers taught skills for survival.

Learning Good Habits

Teens think they know everything. They believe that they know more than mom and dad, teachers included. But what if they develop healthy habits? Folding clothes, washing dishes, mowing the grass, chopping the wood, cleaning the house?

Aren’t these all life skills too?

Good habits can be taught at home. They come from imitating parents doing day to day survival skills. How to keep the house in order by cleaning up the dirty dishes, washing and folding the laundry and sweeping and vacuuming the floor. Cutting the grass is important too, especially in some of the southern states where poisonous snakes can be hiding in the tall grass, just like bees too.

Chopping wood is needed to stay warm in the winter. What do they do if the power goes out in an ice storm?

Hygiene

It’s not just because of the smell emitted by the body. There is more to hygiene than taking a shower and washing their hair. It should be combed or brushed when needed. The teeth need care too, or they will be wearing dentures by the time they are twenty-something. Toothpaste has come a long way since they were first discovered, and now it tastes better too. Gum disease is difficult to cure.

Saving Money

A big one – don’t spend it all at once.

Down payments are needed to buy cars and houses. Even apartments require a down payment or deposit before being rented out. A new outfit doesn’t need to be purchased every week. Learn to buy clothes that can be mixed and matched to make multiple outfits. That down payment for a first home will be saved up in a matter of a couple of years.

Credit Cards are nice to have, Buttttt…

That is how debt begins. Zero percent interest for the first six months’ does sound inviting, but after those six months, the charges start to add up. Monthly payments climb until your whole paycheck is being used to pay for a debt that was created in a matter of a month, just because of instant gratitude.

An iPhone is there in the sand where a blanket is about to be placed while unpacking the family beach bag. A lost item from the previous occupant or a passerby. Is this a matter of finder’s keepers or should it be turned over to authority to be returned to its rightful owner?

Let’s Think About This

I know you’re the finder of treasure, but do you really know what kind of treasure you may hold in your hands? That could be a lifetime of memories. Someone’s loved one. Photos of Grandma before she died last week. Or, the family dog before it was hit by the car.
When we find a treasure such as an iPhone, we all know its material value, but that phone is more than just a cell phone. It is a mini computer, a camera, a communication device. They are expensive, especially the newer models like the one in your hands. But do you know the real value of that item?

Scenario

A young mother with her child had occupied your spot on the beach not too long ago. While she packed her bag, that mother was sure it was put in her purse, but her six-month-old baby boy plucked it from the bag while she continued to stow the rest of their items and trash away before leaving.

So what?

She may be a single mother. Her phone may hold all that babies pictures she has taken of him over the past six months. Stop – don’t erase that phone!
If you keep that phone, you have taken all those photos away from her.

That’s not your problem, it’s hers.

Suppose, that child is a cancer victim, or has some incurable disease and will die within the next few years. What if that child sat up on their own for the first and last time due to some neuromuscular disease? Are you going to rob that mother of all her memories of her child?

Another Scenario

A family, like your own, had occupied your spot. They lost their phone while packing. That phone has all the contact names and numbers of the family stored on that phone. Plus, of course, pictures. Once again the valuable part of the phone isn’t the phone its self, it is the photos. You wipe that phone clean, that treasure trove of photos will be gone forever. They may be the last pictures of the mother, father, or sibling they will ever have, should an accident, or sudden illness happen. Life can be swept away in the blink of an eye.

Weigh the Value in that Item Before Acting or It May Rob Memories from the current owner forever.

What if that phone had belonged to you and someone wiped it clean?
How would you feel if all your memories were gone forever?

The right thing to do

Give it back. Recharge it if you must, but please contact the owner of the phone and give it back. Your inner self will be thankful for it too. The joy the owner will show when you hand it over will be a greater reward than keeping that phone and the guilt that will be attached to those photos that are deleted.

Last thing

I do believe, that if you were not going to return it, the owner could make the phone inoperable anyways to keep their privacy and security from being breached.