"In a TikTok video, the educator, who goes by @mommy_n_zachy on social media, lays out a list of skills she says kids routinely lack, including the ability to recite their home address, count coins, or follow simple multi-step directions. Some can't write in cursive, she notes; others do not know their parents' names or phone numbers. Many, she adds, are unable to look up words in a dictionary or recall the year they were born."
""We're going to do our part as teachers, but we just need a little extra help at home," she said. "Please, please, please. We're a community. We work together. So let's set our kids up for success." Her video quickly drew thousands of responses, revealing just how widely her concerns resonated. A woman who works with teenagers in food service wrote that the problem extends well beyond elementary school."
"She attributes the shift in part to a world built around digital shortcuts, tap-to-play, autofill, and smartphones that eliminate the need for memorization. But she insists that some skills, no matter how old-fashioned they seem, still matter. Several commenters chimed in with additional skills they believed had vanished: riding a bike, offering a prayer before meals, observing basic manners. But many suggested that not every lost skill signals a crisis."
Many students lack once-basic life skills including reading analog clocks, tying shoelaces, writing in cursive, reciting home addresses, counting coins, following multi-step directions, knowing parents' phone numbers, and using a dictionary. The decline is linked in part to pervasive digital shortcuts, autofill, tap-to-play features, and smartphones that reduce the need for memorization. Teachers request modest reinforcement from parents at home to practice these fundamentals. Public responses indicate similar skill gaps among teenagers and note other vanished abilities like bike riding, mealtime prayers, and basic manners, while some argue certain skills became obsolete.
Read at TODAY.com
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