Many moons ago, I started thinking about how inadequate I believe our public school systems to be when it comes to learning how to survive as an adult. I thought about how after I left high school, I knew virtually nothing about how to live on my own as an adult. With no idea what I was doing, everything I learned seemed to be by trial and error. And everything I learned in high school was almost entirely irrelevant.
I say “almost” irrelevant because of course I found some helpful information while in high school. Granted, I went to an absolutely terrible high school made up of some of the worst teachers I’ve ever met. There were a few great teachers – like the Spanish teacher Mr. Warrick and the Art teach Coach Parr.
Buuuut there were not-so-great ones there, too.
Like the chemistry teacher who told us her only reason for becoming a teacher was because she couldn’t have children of her own. She showed movies and gave us chocolate every week, and graded entirely based on favoritism. When I put in the effort to actually do the homework for AP Chemistry, I would get a C, while my high school boyfriend would write unintelligible stories about gnomes smoking weed and would get a B. To this day, I know nothing about Chemistry. *Sigh* But I digress.
My point for that enlightening story is that there is SO MUCH that school never teaches kids and real life. At least, not in the public school system me and all my friends grew up in! Things that kids NEED to know to be successful adults!!! Like how to look for apartments, how to find a quality car, how to take care of said car, how to handle credit cards or build your credit, what insurance you need and why, how to do taxes – I mean the list goes on and ON.
What You Wish You Learned
So after pondering this for awhile, I took to Facebook. “What topics do believe our children need to know about before they’re sent off into the real world as an “adult”?”
Lordy Jesus the responses were phenomenal!
I knew right then and there that Kandy Apple Mama would need to dive into each and every one of these subjects. Not only because we’re here to help people improve their own success as an adult, but also because if the school systems aren’t doing it, WE NEED TO TEACH THESE THINGS TO OUR CHILDREN!!! Seriously.
Many of these subjects my own parents had no idea how to conquer, let alone teach all their children about. And the majority of other parents are in the same boat!
Do you know how hard it is to parent a teenager? I know it’s hard and I don’t even have one yet!
I mean, learning to understand their mood swings and transitions is hard enough. Then there’s fighting for their independence, the demands of the school system, and not enough time in the day for all their activities – extra curriculars, schooling, and later a job – it all adds up to way too much angst.
My suggestion to all the parents out there? Start young.
Bring up these subjects early, starting when your littles are… little! That way you have a lot more time to help them understand, and by the time they’re in high school, they’ll already have the basic foundation down before you dive into the meat and potatoes.
How to Properly Adult
And along your learning to adult journey, we will be with you.
We’re here to not only help educate you on the subject basics, but also give you ways to introduce it to your children. For each topic we cover, we’ll do our best to include crafts, activities, or suggestions for how you can start conversations with your kids about important adult-things like budgeting and buying a house.
Start the conversations as soon as they’re able to understand, and stay open to questions. I’m sure there will be plenty of those.
How to Teach Kids Early
We can teach these (sometimes difficult) subjects to our kids not only through activities and conversations from a young age, but also through setting a good example.
Implement the practices you preach!
And DO NOT be afraid to talk to your kids about any and ALL of these subjects.
Money? Sex? Careers? Life insurance?
Ok, we may not cover sex-topics here, but all of these topics need to be discussed. It’ll give them a healthy head start on being successful.
And don’t give me that “well my parents never taught me that stuff! And I’m doing just fine!”
I bet you that you’d be doing even better had your parents actually taught you all this stuff from the get go.
We want our kids to be more successful than us, to do a better job than us, to BE better than us. At least I know I want mine to be! So let’s give ’em that head start, that beginning push.
That’s what the accumulation of knowledge is all about, right? Bundling it up to share with the next generation?
(I love me some powerful Lucy!)

Introducing: The Adulting Series
Each week in the month of March, we will be posting several new articles on different topics that are listed below. As we publish them, the links below will go live!
So feel free to take a peek at what’s to come, and keep coming back each week to read the actual posts for yourself.
You never know what new things you might learn!
Topics We’ll be Covering in March:
- Applying for College
- Getting Scholarships
- Landing the Job you Want
- Apartment Searching
- Budgeting
- Saving Money on Everyday Bills
- Credit Cards
- Building Credit
- Taxes
- Learning to Cook
- First Aid Skills
- Grieving over Loss
- Buying a House
- Car Maintenance
- Buying a Car
- Car Insurance
- Fact Checking & “Fake News”
- Rape Culture
- Sexual Assault
If there’s a topic that you find vital to successful adulting that you believe we missed, let us know in the comments!
So come back and see us –
