Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Sonya Bateson: Six life skills I wish I had been taught before I graduated

Sonya Bateson
By Sonya Bateson
Regional content leader, Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post·Bay of Plenty Times·
4 Oct, 2022 09:43 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

I had to learn through trial and error. Lots and lots of errors. Photo / Getty Images

I had to learn through trial and error. Lots and lots of errors. Photo / Getty Images

OPINION:

The day I moved into my first flat was the day I was bequeathed an… heirloom, of sorts.

My parents helped drag the heavy old bed into my room. The base had wooden legs that screwed into the bottom, and they were getting a bit loose in its old age. The base itself was covered in rips, but you couldn't see them with the lumpy mattress on top.

That mattress. Let's just say the first night in my new home was an experience I'll never forget. I reckon I can still feel the bruises today. But after a few long nights of trial and error, I found that lying in a kind of diagonal manner across the bed resulted in a full eight hours.

That bed had been handed down from family member to family member during transitional periods in each of our lives, then handed down to the next relative once we achieved functioning adulthood.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Of course, I was the one to finally break it.

And, no, before you ask, there's no raunchy story behind it either. I was vacuuming and whacked one of the legs, which somehow snapped the frame. It must have been some strange fluke of a weakness in the wood, or perhaps it was sitting at a funny angle and I hit it just right. Or maybe I'm secretly the Hulk. We'll never know.

But that meant it was time for the bed to finally retire to wherever broken beds go. And that meant I had to make my first big adult purchase – without any savings.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

What's a young, dumb 21-year-old to do?

First, I tried to hit up all the op-shops. No luck. The Warehouse? Nothing affordable. Trade Me? Don't be silly, this was the days before internet on phones was really a thing.

Discover more

Opinion

Sonya Bateson: Easier for young minds to absorb new languages

01 Sep 10:00 PM

Sonya Bateson: Second-hand shopping has become a hobby for the middle class

04 Aug 10:00 PM

Sonya Bateson: Sam Uffindell - will we see an arc of redemption or fall from grace?

11 Aug 10:00 PM
Opinion

Sonya Bateson: Same-sex marriage is real, it exists - and it's a right

16 Jun 08:31 PM

Then, I saw a sign.

Not the miraculous kind - a literal sign on a window. Twenty-four months interest-free.

Into the store I went and signed my life away in exchange for a new bedroom set – and my first credit card.

I knew I had to pay off the credit card before that 24 months was up. But that was as far as my knowledge on credit went.

And so, I began making regular payments out of every paycheck. I figured I'd pay it off in 18 months or so, giving me a bit of breathing room in case the worst were to happen.

I got pretty close, too.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But, spoiler alert: Bad things did, indeed, happen. And when you've got credit readily available, it's easy to use.

First, I lost my job and had to move towns. Second, my car needed some pretty serious repairs. Third, I had to pay a bond at my new home. And fourth, my new pay cycle was monthly, which meant weeks to wait until my first payday.

That credit card, supposed to be paid off in 24 months, soon began ticking up interest at an exorbitant rate. I was finally earning my first decent wage, but still living off two-minute noodles and spaghetti.

It took years to get rid of that damned thing.

Experiences like that stick with you. To this day, I've never had another credit card, despite being older and (slightly) wiser. Once burned, twice shy, goes the old adage.

Being bad with money was one of the biggest obstacles I faced in my younger years. I'd like to think that my life would have run along a very different path had I learned about finances in school.

Instead, I had to learn through trial and error. Lots and lots of errors.

This kind of valuable knowledge shouldn't be reserved for those who are able to learn from their parents.

Looking back on my school years, there are six life skills I wish every child was taught before they were old enough to leave school:

1. How to manage your personal finances.

2. How the local, regional and national governments work and why it is important to vote.

3. Basic te reo Māori and tikanga.

4. Healthy relationships and techniques for managing your mental health.

5. Mending, fixing and maintenance of clothing, homes, cars and appliances.

6. Analysing online content and how to identify reputable information.

From the little bit of research I did, it appears that some personal finance skills are now being taught in schools, although I couldn't determine how in-depth those lessons are, or whether it's something that every child will be taught. I hope that is indeed the case, and that it will prevent more sorry cases like my own in the future.

The way I see it, everything on my list is a practical skill that is important for all Kiwi adults to know in the 21st century. And they're skills that don't necessarily need their own classes.

For example: teaching financial literacy through maths. Practising techniques for managing your mental health while playing sports, or learning about healthy relationships during the birds-and-bees talk.

Making beautiful patches for your clothes in art class, or growing vegetables during science. The more we expose our kids to these skills at school and at home, the more they will become well-rounded adults.

They are our future; we need to prepare them for that task.

Sonya Bateson is a writer, reader, and crafter raising her family in Tauranga. She is a Millennial who enjoys eating avocado on toast, drinking lattes and defying stereotypes. As a sceptic, she reserves the right to change her mind when presented with new evidence.
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

'Hot-box' murder: Accused says rival gang bigger issue than patched member's theft

17 Jun 07:00 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

CCTV of rider released after blind, deaf cancer survivor struck in hit-and-run

17 Jun 04:05 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

'Walk away enriched': How to celebrate Matariki in Rotorua

17 Jun 04:00 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

'Hot-box' murder: Accused says rival gang bigger issue than patched member's theft

'Hot-box' murder: Accused says rival gang bigger issue than patched member's theft

17 Jun 07:00 AM

Defence counsel says Mark Hohua died after falling on to concrete steps while fleeing.

CCTV of rider released after blind, deaf cancer survivor struck in hit-and-run

CCTV of rider released after blind, deaf cancer survivor struck in hit-and-run

17 Jun 04:05 AM
'Walk away enriched': How to celebrate Matariki in Rotorua

'Walk away enriched': How to celebrate Matariki in Rotorua

17 Jun 04:00 AM
‘I’ve been put up on the shelf’: Temuera Morrison laments Star Wars limbo

‘I’ve been put up on the shelf’: Temuera Morrison laments Star Wars limbo

17 Jun 03:16 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP