This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at City London chapter.
Mothers are often credited for imparting their wisdom down to us and, on the whole, that’s true. Unfortunately they don’t know it all, as much as they like to act as if they did, and there are four essential life skills that they forgot to teach us.
- How to use a washing machine The washing machine is our common enemy. The mammoth task of matching the symbols from the labels on our clothes to the washing machine settings requires an unachievable level of emotional stability. The plethora of buttons on the machine itself looks like the control board of the Star Trek Enterprise. Then along comes mummy dearest, who turns the damned thing on without even looking at it. She then throws a dirty look at you while you cower in the corner clutching some dirty socks. Unbelievable.
- What to do say when the good one DOES ask you outMothers are full of witty and caustic one-liners that they are eager to pass on to us as soon as the inevitable puberty hits and we star sprouting boobs. We practice the delivery, body language and snarl to match so we are fully prepared for the onslaught of leery boys.However, what happens when a real, proper gentleman takes a fancy to us and we have no idea what to say? Smile widely and hope he understands? Pass him a note, as you are physically incapable of saying anything nice to a man? Watch in despair as he slinks off back to his table at the pub, when you only want to be slinking off into the night with him? Alas, I think we all know how that will end.
- How to change a tyre Why is it that every time a girl picks up a tool, every male within a one mile radius ducks for cover? We’re shooed out of the way when our dads, brothers and mothers are working on ‘important car stuff’, when we should be encouraged to learn. There’s really nothing wrong with getting a little grease under the fingernails, as long as that grease is from the chippy the AA man dropped you off at on his way to the garage.
- How to emotionally deal with the end of a TV seriesThis is a major life skill that we all seem to be lacking… What’s up with that?! Watching a TV series from start to finish – whether weekly or binge watching the DVD box set – is the ultimate test of emotional stability and we are failing every time. Emphatise with these fictional people and their lives is unhealthy enough, but once they are gone it’s like losing a part of your soul (Ok, maybe not that serious, but something along those lines). Our mothers never had that problem they were too busy being wives, mothers and professionals and there was simply no time for such trivial things. However, in our case that’s all there is time for these days and its really starting to suck. A girl will have to cry so many times at the same One Tree Hill episode she’s seen a million times before she admits she has a problem.
What about you? Do you think there are some life-skills your mum didn’t teach you? Let us know and leave a comment!