‘ADULTING’

ALL PEOPLE ARE ILL-EQUIPPED FOR LIFE AT ONE POINT OR ANOTHER

Think back to the day you left school. Most likely, it was a happy occasion and cause to celebrate.

Now think back to the first time you prepared a job application, a tax return, or found yourself stranded with a flat tyre.

When confronted for the first time with ‘adult things’, and being required to know how to deal with these things, you might have thought to yourself: “I wish they taught me how to do this in school.”

CHANGING A TYRE

You may laugh at the thought of a grown person not knowing how to change a tyre.

Then again, you might never have needed to change one before and are unsure where to place the jack (or how to operate it).

Being able to change a tyre is an invaluable skill, despite perhaps being entitled to roadside assistance from your insurer. Finding yourself stranded on a remote Queensland road (possibly even without mobile reception) need not be a traumatic experience or unmitigated disaster.

RECYCLING

Are you confident you know what goes in the recycling bin, and what doesn’t?

Test yourself: Can you place a clear plastic Coke bottle in the recycling bin, including the lid? If you said yes, you’re mistaken.

Many items we know to be recyclable, contain elements or parts that are not. These ‘unrecyclable’ items are contaminants and interfere with the recycling process.

Things like lids on plastic bottles must be separated and placed in the general waste bin, while not all types of glass can be recycled, like drinking glasses, ‘blue’ glass, and ‘white’ glass.

HOW TO APPLY FOR A JOB

We bet some practical ‘dry-runs’ would have been a great help in preparing you for your first interview.

The same can be said for preparing school-leavers for the arduous task of applying for a job.

CHOOSING A SUPERANNUATION FUND

Soon after starting your first job, you were asked to choose a superannuation fund.

You were told you could pick the company super, industry super, or any other super out there.

What you were not told, is how to spot the differences in the types of super, what these differences mean for your money, what level of risk would suit your retirement plans (or even what your retirement plans were, for that matter).

TAX RETURNS

At some point in your recent history, the murky world of taxation was probably as unfathomable as being asked to come up with a new colour.

Having had a break-down of income tax, fringe benefits, allowable deductions and tax offsets would probably have been of great help to a younger-you, asked to submit your first tax return.

CPR AND BASIC LIFESAVING SKILLS

This is something that most adults never master.

Being able to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre successfully, knowing how to prevent hypothermia, control bleeding or administer CPR — all of these skills can save a life — perhaps even your own.