I can hear you all growling at me now… "Yeah, yeah. That goes without sayin'." And I know you're right. However. . . We often overlook it, so it bears mentioning.
We need to teach our teens household and car maintenance. {duck}
It's easy to just rush to fix the little things around the house that break. It's easier to just do it ourselves. It takes longer to teach the teen how to do it properly. And what if they don't do it correctly?!
If we send them out into the world without knowing these basic skills, we have seriously done them a disservice. It's worth the time it will take to teach them. It's worth the time it takes to oversee the job a few times.
My teens really love being able to contribute to keeping the house and the vehicles running. They love being a knowledgeable helper when the car needs repair. When something breaks in the house, my oldest son loves knowing how to fix it himself before his dad gets home.
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I don't always do a good job with teaching my children how to maintain and repair things around the house, however…early on I got tired of the "Mom, the toilet's overflowing" as they run through the house looking for me, while the bathroom is being flooded. So, I showed them the wonders of turning the water to the toilet off and throwing some towels on the floor (removing the rugs) before they came looking for me! It made the job so much easier and they learned a valuable lesson.
My husband has been literally forcing our son (20) to pay close attention to his car, maintain it (oil, filters, tail lights, etc) and think about his car before things like movies, etc. They want the ride, but it isn't until they have the responsibility of driving that they truly realize there is more to it than car keys. You're right, it's SO important! This carries over to other parts of life too.