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We’ve all been there.

We wish that we had a better hold of our finances.

We wish we knew how to change the oil in our car.

We wish we knew how to meal plan for the week and stick with it.

Let’s face it, adulting is hard and it’s especially hard on young adults.

Many of the young adults in our community are lacking the knowledge of basic life skills. According to a study by FINRA Investor Education Foundation, 60 percent of adults in the US do not have a strict budget and/or have some type of credit card debt. The online job search engine found that 25 percent of adults didn’t know what to include on a resume. A study done in 2018 by Tufts University found that 28 percent of adults didn’t know how to cook.

“These are skills that adults need for long term success,” said Danny Lough, Davie County 4-H Extension agent. “However, skills like financial literacy, basic auto maintenance, and interview skills are not being taught to most of our youth through the school system and are often left to be taught at home by parents that may or may not be knowledgeable themselves.”

To gauge the need and interest in a life skills series, Davie County 4-H and Cognition Davie created a community survey last spring that reached more than 3,000 residents. It found that 88 percent of participants believed youth needed to be taught critical life skills. The survey also highlighted the top six life skills needed by Davie young people: college applications & financial aid, resume & interview skills, financial literacy, basic auto mechanics, basic home repair, and cooking & meal planning.

These six life skills will be the main focus of the “Adulting 101: Life Skills” workshop series. Through this series, youth will learn from experts in the field about these skills and how best to apply them.

“This isn’t going to be a two-hour lecture about how you should save money or how you should present yourself during an interview. That’s not what 4-H and Cognition are about and that’s not how teenagers learn.

“Each workshop will have some lecture, an interactive activity, and then a discussion,” said Lough. “Youth are going to learn these skills from someone experienced in the field that uses these skills every day. They’re going to learn how to change a tire from a mechanic. They are going to create a budget with a banker. They are going to learn interview skills from real business owners here in Davie County.”

The Adulting 101: Life Skills workshops are free and open to all Davie youth ages 14-18. Each workshop will be presented by an expert(s) in the field and will have a presentation, activity, and discussion portion. All workshops will be held at Cognition’s Makerspace from 6-8 p.m. unless otherwise specified.

The schedule:

• Sep. 7: College Applications & Student Loans, Ignite Davie College Promise and Davidson-Davie Community College

• Sept. 14:Interview Skills and Resume Writing, Davie County Chamber of Commerce and United Way of Davie County

• Sept. 28: Financial Literacy, Bank OZK

• Oct. 14: Basic Home Repair, INENCO Inc.

• Oct. 26: Basic Auto Mechanics, Mocksville Tire and Automotive.

• Nov. 9: Cooking and Meal Prep, NC Cooperative Extension.

Registration is required as space is limited. Registration can be found at: https://bit.ly/DCadulting101.

Direct questions to   Lough at danny_lough@ncsu.edu or call (336) 753-6100.