The other day, I was watching my 10-year-old grandson struggle to open a can of beans. Not because the can opener was tricky, mind you, but because he’d genuinely never used one before. Everything in his house comes with a pull-tab or gets heated in the microwave.

It got me thinking about what life was like when I was his age, back in the late 1960s. By the time I hit 12, I could do things that would probably make modern parents break out in hives. And I’m not talking about dangerous stunts or reckless behavior. I’m talking about basic life skills that gave us a sense of capability and self-reliance that seems increasingly rare today.

So let’s take a walk down memory lane. Here are ten survival skills that kids like me mastered before we even hit our teenage years.

1) Navigating without GPS or smartphones

Remember paper maps? Those massive, unwieldy things that never folded back the same way twice?

Well, we had to learn how to read them. By age 10 or so, most of us could figure out which bus to take across town, or how to bike to a friend’s house several neighborhoods away without calling home for directions every five minutes.

There were no cell phones to bail us out if we got lost. You either figured it out by asking a stranger for help, retracing your steps, or relying on landmarks you’d memorized. Getting lost was genuinely scary sometimes, but it also taught us problem-solving under pressure.

These days, kids have GPS on their phones before they can spell “GPS.” I’m not saying that’s all bad, but there’s something to be said for developing an internal compass and learning to trust your sense of direction.

2) Cooking basic meals from scratch

My mother worked, and by the time I was 11, I was expected to help get dinner on the table. That meant actually cooking, not just reheating something from the freezer.

I learned to make scrambled eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, spaghetti with meat sauce, and a halfway decent pot roast. Was it gourmet? Absolutely not. But it was real food, and I made it myself.

Kids back then spent time in the kitchen because they had to. We watched our parents cook, and then we took over some of those tasks as we got older. It gave us confidence and made us feel genuinely useful to the family.

Today, I see a lot of teenagers who can barely boil water. That’s not their fault, really. Convenience food is everywhere, and parents are often too busy or too nervous to let kids near the stove. But something valuable gets lost in that trade-off.

3) Fixing things instead of replacing them

When something broke in our house, we didn’t immediately throw it out and order a new one. We tried to fix it first.

I learned to patch a bicycle tire, sew a button back on my shirt, and even do basic repairs on my toy cars. My dad showed me how to tighten a loose screw, oil a squeaky hinge, and unclog a drain. These weren’t formal lessons. It was just stuff you picked up by watching and helping out.

The mindset was completely different. Things cost money, and money didn’t grow on trees, as my father loved to remind me. So you took care of what you had and made it last as long as possible.

These days, everything seems designed to be disposable. But there’s real satisfaction in fixing something with your own hands, and it builds a kind of resourcefulness that serves you well throughout life.

4) Entertaining ourselves without screens

This one might sound quaint, but hear me out.

When I was bored as a kid, I couldn’t just pull out a tablet or flip on Netflix. I had to figure out what to do with myself. Sometimes that meant reading, playing outside, building something, or just daydreaming.

We created elaborate imaginary worlds, built forts in the backyard, played pickup games of baseball that lasted for hours. Boredom wasn’t seen as a crisis that adults needed to solve immediately. It was just part of life, and we learned to manage it.

That ability to entertain yourself, to sit with your own thoughts without constant stimulation, is increasingly rare. But it’s also incredibly valuable. It fosters creativity, imagination, and the kind of deep thinking that’s hard to do when you’re always plugged in.

5) Handling money and making change

I got my first allowance when I was about 8 years old. It wasn’t much, maybe a dollar a week, but it was mine to manage.

By the time I was 12, I was riding my bike to the corner store, buying candy or comic books, and counting out my change to make sure the cashier got it right. We did mental math because we had to. There weren’t calculators on every phone.

I also learned the value of saving up for something I really wanted. If I wanted a new baseball glove that cost $15, I had to put aside money for weeks to afford it. That taught me patience and planning in a way that’s hard to replicate when kids can just ask Alexa to add something to the cart.

Financial literacy starts young, and handling actual physical money, seeing it disappear when you spend it, makes the concept real in a way that digital transactions just don’t.

6) Doing laundry and basic housekeeping

Household chores weren’t optional in most families back then. By age 10 or 11, I was doing my own laundry, vacuuming my room, and helping clean the kitchen after dinner.

Nobody made a big fuss about it. It was just part of being in a family. Everyone contributed because there was work to be done, and if you were old enough to make a mess, you were old enough to clean it up.

I’ll admit, I didn’t love scrubbing floors or folding clothes. But those tasks taught me responsibility and gave me a sense of competence. When I eventually moved out on my own at 19, I wasn’t helpless. I knew how to keep a place livable.

Looking at some young adults today who’ve never been taught these basics, I realize how much of a gift those early lessons were.

7) Walking or biking everywhere independently

This is probably the biggest difference between then and now. Kids in the ’60s and ’70s had a level of independent mobility that would shock most modern parents.

By age 8 or 9, I was walking to school by myself, about a mile each way. By 11, I was biking all over the neighborhood, meeting friends at the park, going to the library, stopping at the drugstore for a soda.

My parents didn’t track my every move. They just expected me home by dinner. That freedom taught me street smarts, time management, and how to handle unexpected situations. It also gave me confidence and a sense of autonomy that shaped who I became.

I understand the world feels different now, and parents worry more. But I sometimes wonder if we’ve swung too far in the other direction, and what that constant supervision costs kids in terms of self-reliance.

8) Using hand tools safely

By the time I turned 12, I knew how to use a hammer, screwdriver, hand saw, and even a wrench with reasonable competence.

My father taught me, not through formal lessons, but by handing me tools when he was working on projects around the house. He’d show me once or twice, correct me when I did it wrong, and then let me do it myself.

Sure, I hit my thumb with a hammer more than once, but I learned. And those skills came in handy my entire life. Even now, I can handle basic home repairs without having to call someone or watch a YouTube tutorial every single time.

There’s something empowering about knowing how to build or fix things with your hands. It’s a kind of practical knowledge that connects you to the physical world in a way that’s increasingly uncommon.

9) Making phone calls to strangers

This might sound silly, but it’s actually a big one. As a kid, if I needed information, I had to call and ask for it. Want to know if the hardware store has something in stock? Pick up the phone and call them. Need to make a dentist appointment? Call the office yourself.

There was no texting, no email, no online chat. You had to speak to an actual human being, state your question clearly, and handle the conversation politely.

I know adults today who get anxious about making phone calls because they never had to do it growing up. But that skill, being able to communicate verbally with strangers in a clear and confident way, is enormously valuable in life.

10) Responding to emergencies without panicking

We learned basic first aid and emergency procedures at a young age because we needed to. If you cut yourself badly while playing outside, you couldn’t just text mom. You had to handle it.

I knew how to clean and bandage a wound, what to do if someone got hurt, and how to dial the operator (yes, the actual operator) in a real emergency. We practiced stop, drop, and roll in case of fire. We knew not to open the door to strangers when home alone.

Were kids really home alone more back then? You bet we were. After school, many of us let ourselves in with our own key and stayed by ourselves until our parents got home from work. We were “latchkey kids,” and while that term has negative connotations now, it also meant we learned self-sufficiency and how to stay calm when things went wrong.

Conclusion

Look, I’m not trying to claim that everything was better in the old days. Every generation faces its own challenges and develops its own strengths.

But when I watch my grandchildren being driven everywhere, constantly supervised, and handed devices to occupy them whenever they get restless, I do worry that something important is being lost.

Independence isn’t just about doing things yourself. It’s about believing you can handle whatever comes your way. And that kind of confidence is built through practice, through being allowed to try and fail and figure things out on your own.

So here’s my question for you: What skills from your childhood do you wish kids today were learning? And more importantly, what are you willing to do to teach them?