Hire My Mom

As a work-at-home mom, you figuratively have your feet in two different worlds. Although you certainly stay busy with work and projects in your home office, you also understand the life of a homemaker. While you probably have enjoyed having a flexible schedule that has allowed you to do things like volunteer in your kids’ schools and work around them at least part of the time, you also recognize that your kids are now teenagers, and it’s time to cut the proverbial apron strings a bit. But where do you find these life skills for teens?

Fear not, thanks to the power of the Internet, it is more than possible to encourage your teens to take the reins and teach themselves some needed skills. In addition to showing them the value of self-reliance and independence, encouraging your teens to learn things on their own will also teach them that they don’t always need mom to lead them through every new experience. Consider the following skills that teens can handle on their own — at least part of the time:

Basic Cleaning

Although it might be hard to fathom, your teens will someday be on their own. To help prepare them for life in their future apartments — and frankly, to take some of the housecleaning burdens off of you now — it’s a great idea to teach teens to handle some basic cleaning duties. Teenagers are notorious for thinking magical elves come in and clean the bathrooms and floors. They are definitely old enough to learn how to handle a dustpan, broom and container of Clorox wipes. While you are busy working on a project for an important client, ask your teen to spend some time on the Everyday Cleaning Tips website. The site offers easy-to-follow instructions and advice on how to clean just about everything in the home. Ask your teen to use the site to learn how to transform the soap-scum-covered tub into one that sparkles, or to properly scrub a toilet.

Driving Test Prep

If you have a teen who is chomping at the bit to get his or her driver’s permit, you probably have picked up the booklet from your local Motor Vehicles Division. But while it can be fun for you to quiz your kiddo on the sample questions in the book, your teen can also do a lot of the studying on his or her own. Driving-Tests.org is a terrific and useful website that is great for teens who need to study for their driving exam; the site includes sample tests from all 50 states, as well as encouraging success stories.

Cooking Skills for Beginners

If your teen is constantly interrupting your work by calling out “Mom! I’m starving!” it’s time you show your teen how to teach him or herself some basic cooking skills. Fortunately, there are plenty of websites that offer cooking classes for beginners — and some of them even offer free courses that are ideal for teens. Smart Kitchen features a variety of terrific online cooking classes that will help your teen get more comfortable in the kitchen. Once he or she has mastered some basic skills, you can encourage your hungry teen to use cookbooks and websites to find easy-to-fix meals and snacks.

These are only a few of the life skills for teens you’ll find when you peruse the Internet. How-to videos and tutorials are there for the taking.

Check out these other great articles about tips for mom as a work from home professional. Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.

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