Readers' Comments

Nine in ten parents think their teenage kids are lacking domestic skills – with bed making, ironing and vacuuming among the chores they struggle with, research by Premier Inn has revealed. Readers shared their own experiences...

Mary Anderson: Whose fault is that? I taught my two children from an early age by making everything into a game. Then as teenagers they got pocket money for helping around the house and garden. It’s the parents’ job to rear their children to care and look after themselves and others.

Catherine Croucher: Skills have to be taught, copies and practised so nine out of ten parents have not done their jobs.

David Nisbet: Never mind the kids – the wife never had any domestic skills.

MMast A. LLau: Or the husband, obviously.

Zoë Costelloe: I think time is often the problem – with both parents working, dinner isn't always cooked from scratch and comes out of a packet or from a takeaway, and many employ someone else to do most of the domestic jobs (cleaning, ironing, car wash, window cleaner, etc) so their kids don't get the opportunity to learn. Or the parents think “it's just quicker to do it myself” and don't feel they have the extra time to teach them how to do stuff. However if they do invest the time, they can then delegate some of the tasks to their kids and lighten their own workload. I firmly believe that all kids should leave home with a good set of “domestic skills”, but sometimes that's easier said than done when “Kevin” isn't interested – so well done to all the parents who are trying their best to achieve this.

Jackie Brownlee: It’s time people had the mindset that women are not confined to cooking and cleaning. Those antiquated ideas are gone. Men should learn more about marriage equality first (equal for those who don’t get it). Women work too these days. Don’t push my buttons, you will lose.

Jeff Blake Mitchell: I was brought up in the "your sister helps with the washing up, you help your dad era" so I had to teach myself to cook when I left home... although I will say my dad did a lot of the housework.

Sandra Divitt: I taught mine to get on with it on their own when they were in high school. They did their own ironing and helped with tea andnow my daughter is a cracking baker.

Elayne Young: My daughter is a good cook and knows domestic skills – these are life skills. Too many kids go off to uni etc not even knowing how to make a basic meal because they’s had everything done for them.

Lorna Gatens: I taught my son all the basics and he is doing very well. It doesn't take much to put in the effort to teach them to cook, sew, operate the washing machine and keep things clean and tidy.

Lee-Ann Mclaren: My kids strip their own beds and make them up again and always iron their own clothes as and when they need them.

Nikola Vukota: It’s probably because seven out of ten parents don't have the skills to pass them on.

Patricia Andeson: Give the kids jobs to do around the house – girls and boys.You are not your children's servant.

Nel Greg: Nothing changes. My parents thought the same. But wait until you have a house of your own – it all changes. So what's new?

Care home closure

Health chiefs have voted to go ahead with the closure of Drumbrae care home despite calls for it to be kept open. The 60-bed council-run home will now be given a new function as a complex care assessment unit operated by the NHS.

Wendy Brownlee: Why close care homes when the NHS continues to say patients are bed blocking because there are not enough care placements available in the community. If a building is not fit for purpose then it needs and update or we build a new one.

Laird Ronald Simpson: It is all in the planning – they want relatives to care for their own family during their greatest time of need as is in other countries. But other countries have social and health care benefit schemes which allow someone in the family to not work and so care for their loved ones. Unfortunately in this country we do not have such a caring benefit scheme.

John Keating: If the buildings are not fit for purpose then build new bigger ones rather than waste money on vanity projects. like trams, cycle lanes, planters, spaces for people etc s