If you take a look around at the younger generation as an older Brit, you’ll notice that they’re struggling to deal with all sorts of life skills that we learned at an early age. This isn’t always their fault, but it’s still something we should be taking seriously. So, this article covers life skills that young Brits are, unfortunately, struggling to master.
Budgeting Effectively
Ask any young adult, and they’ll tell you that they find themselves struggling with managing their finances. The concept of budgeting often feels overwhelming, leading to overspending and difficulty in saving, something that Investopedia points out is due to the ease of access to credit. Sticking to a budget requires discipline and the ability to prioritize needs over wants, skills that the older generation couldn’t have managed without back when we were younger.
Cooking Nutritious Meals
Even if they claim to enjoy cooking, preparing healthy meals at home is a challenge for many young Brits. They’ve become far too reliant on takeaways and pre-packaged foods, as they claim that cooking from scratch is too time-consuming and complicated. However, this just shows their lack of basic cooking skills, something that is holding them back from the benefits of a balanced diet and the satisfaction of creating their own meals.
Understanding Credit Scores
Young people today don’t realize how important credit scores are when it comes to financial health. Misunderstandings about how credit scores are calculated and what impacts them can lead to poor financial decisions. Ultimately, without this knowledge, young adults risk damaging their creditworthiness, affecting their ability to secure loans or mortgages in the future.
Doing Basic Home Maintenance
Believe it or not, even the most simple home maintenance tasks, such as fixing a leaky tap or changing a lightbulb, are often a mystery to young Brits. Lacking these basic skills means minor issues can escalate into bigger problems, leading to unnecessary expenses. They really need to learn how to handle these everyday tasks, so if you notice it in your grandchildren, give them a helping hand.
Managing Time Efficiently
Another life skill that young Brits are struggling to master is time management. There’s no denying that balancing work, studies, and personal life can be daunting without a clear plan, yet the youth really doesn’t help itself. Procrastination, poor planning, and an inability to prioritize tasks are all root causes of this problem. It’s about time that they developed stronger time management habits, or they’ll no doubt regret not doing so in the future.
Communicating Professionally
Effective communication, especially in a professional setting, is a skill that doesn’t come naturally to everyone–especially young Brits. Even writing an email or engaging in a meeting gives them anxiety, as they claim to struggle to convey their ideas clearly and confidently while seeing professionalism as old-fashioned. We think this needs to change ASAP because otherwise, who knows what communication will consist of in the future?
Navigating Public Transport
It might sound ridiculous, but understanding how to use public transport is a challenge for some young Brits, particularly in larger cities. Figuring out routes, managing travel times, and dealing with delays can be stressful. Instead, they just rely on costly taxi apps such as Uber, which, personally, we think is a tremendous waste of money and public resources.
Planning and Preparing for the Future
Back in our day, long-term planning, whether for a career or personal goals, was something that came naturally; not for the young adults of today, though. The uncertainty of their future and the pressure to succeed can lead to indecision and a lack of direction. If only they could learn how to set realistic goals and create actionable plans, they would be in a much better position for the future.
Handling Stress and Mental Health
It’s all too common for young Brits today to struggle to cope with stress and maintain mental well-being. Unfortunately, the pressures of modern life, combined with the stigma around mental health, can make it difficult to seek help or develop coping mechanisms. However, it’s clear to us that there is more help available than ever before, so we just wish they would take it.
Maintaining a Healthy Work-Life Balance
Partially due to the remote work revolution, balancing work commitments with personal life is a serious challenge to many young adults. The pressure to excel professionally can lead to burnout and a lack of fulfillment in other areas of life. However, there’s a simple fix for this–they just need to learn how to set boundaries and allocate time for relaxation and hobbies, which we older folk know is crucial for sustaining long-term productivity and happiness.
Building and Maintaining Relationships
Sadly, forming and sustaining healthy relationships, both personal and professional, is a skill that doesn’t always come naturally to young Brits. They struggle a lot with communication, trust, and conflict resolution, which are key components of strong relationships. Developing these skills can lead to more meaningful connections and a supportive social network, but as long as they’re glued to their phones, we think they’re a long way off from this.
Understanding and Filing Taxes
Everyone can agree that filing taxes can be a daunting task, but many young adults find it particularly confusing and stressful. Understanding tax obligations, deductions, and deadlines is essential to avoid penalties and make informed financial decisions, but they just don’t understand it. Sadly, we have to admit that this is not really their fault–this stuff really should be getting taught in schools.
Saving for the Future
What is it about young people failing to save cash for the future? They love to spend rather than save, and they even fall into debt due to their easy access to credit. One day, they will understand the importance of saving for the future, and they’ll regret wasting all their money on takeaways, vanilla lattes, and vapes.
Basic First Aid Skills
It’s shocking to realize how little the younger generation knows about how to respond to an emergency. Basic first aid knowledge, such as how to treat cuts and burns, or perform CPR, can make a significant difference in critical situations. Unfortunately, just like with taxes, we blame the schools for not teaching this early enough.
Organizing Personal and Professional Documents
A lot of young people today struggle to keep track of important documents, such as contracts, identification, and financial records. Disorganization can lead to stress, missed deadlines, and legal issues, so it’s important to develop a system for organizing and storing documents. However, young people seem reluctant to do so, partially because they’re so used to digital documents these days.
Understanding Basic Legal Rights
Young people today are very passionate about their rights, yet they still lack basic knowledge about them, which leaves them vulnerable in various situations, such as renting a property or dealing with employment issues. Understanding these rights is essential for protecting oneself and making informed decisions, so we really need to encourage them to do more research into this rather than worrying so much about the rights of other people.
Practicing Good Digital Hygiene
Finally, with the increasing reliance on technology, practicing good digital hygiene is more important than ever. While this isn’t something that concerns us oldies so much, most young people spend all day on the internet, yet they don’t think about the implications this has on their privacy. They should really start protecting their personal information and avoiding cyber threats–even we know that, yet it doesn’t even concern us.