|
|
Post by AussieMeg on Oct 24, 2021 6:20:47 GMT
I left my wallet out in the rain the other day, so I had emptied out all the contents onto the kitchen table to dry. My 17yo son just came in and picked up a book of stamps, and said "What are these stickers for?" I told him they were stamps, and he said "What are they for?" I told him that you have to put stamps on letters when you send them. Then he said "Why do you have to put stickers on letters?" OMG. 17yo and he had no idea what stamps were or that you even needed to put them on a letter. He could not understand why I was so incredulous, so he walked into the lounge room and said to DSO: "Dad, did you know that you had to put stamps on letters to send them?" I heard DSO burst out laughing. I am a failure as a parent.  I remember a thread a little while ago, asking whether your kids would know how to address an envelope. I assume from this latest conversation that DS would have no clue how to address an envelope, seeing that he didn't even know what a stamp was. |
|
|
|
Post by AussieMeg on Oct 24, 2021 6:23:45 GMT
Oh, and before you ask, nobody that I know sends thank you notes, so he's never done that. We usually just ring to say thank you for gifts etc. I'm sure a lot of you would be horrified at us classless Australians!  (Have I just derailed my own thread by bringing up thank you notes?) |
|
|
|
Post by greendragonlady on Oct 24, 2021 6:26:15 GMT
That's hilarious!
My kids didn't send a lot of thank you notes, because most gifts were given directly to them, so they did the thanking immediately. But they did know how to address and stamp letters fairly young, as I recall.
|
|
|
|
Post by jameynz on Oct 24, 2021 8:00:28 GMT
Ha! My daughter started work as a receptionist- she phoned me whilst at work, and asked me how to post the mail.
Her boss told her to do the post, and the poor girl had no idea what that meant
|
|
|
|
Post by gar on Oct 24, 2021 8:21:34 GMT
That’s hilarious 😆 I don’t have any teenagers in my life currently so I can’t say if mine would be the same or not. But don’t you get birthday and Christmas cards in the post with stamps on? ETA - I asked James (5) and he knew what a stamp was, just sayin'   |
|
|
|
Post by AussieMeg on Oct 24, 2021 9:42:52 GMT
That’s hilarious 😆 I don’t have any teenagers in my life currently so I can’t say if mine would be the same or not. But don’t you get birthday and Christmas cards in the post with stamps on? ETA - I asked James (5) and he knew what a stamp was, just sayin' Oh hahaha! So I take it he didn't call it a sticker? And yes, it was his birthday last month and he got one card in the mail. He obviously just rips the envelope open without paying any attention to it. The only other mail he gets, from the football club, is franked so it doesn't have an actual stamp on it. |
|
|
|
Post by gar on Oct 24, 2021 10:11:49 GMT
That’s hilarious 😆 I don’t have any teenagers in my life currently so I can’t say if mine would be the same or not. But don’t you get birthday and Christmas cards in the post with stamps on? ETA - I asked James (5) and he knew what a stamp was, just sayin' Oh hahaha! So I take it he didn't call it a sticker?  And yes, it was his birthday last month and he got one card in the mail. He obviously just rips the envelope open without paying any attention to it. The only other mail he gets, from the football club, is franked so it doesn't have an actual stamp on it. I asked him what we need to put on the front to post a letter and he said a stamp  But I did think that many times things are just franked aren't they. I'm positive you have taught your boy everything else he'll ever need to know |
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 24, 2024 5:04:37 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2021 10:13:08 GMT
Ha ha Reminds me of the first year DD1 sent her Nanna ( my mum) a birthday card addressed to Nanna when she first went to Uni - no name just Nanna and the address on the envelope. When I asked her why she didn't put her name of the envelope she looked at me with a puzzled look and said " what is her name" she meant her last name - she had no idea.  |
|
|
|
Post by monklady123 on Oct 24, 2021 10:29:19 GMT
Lol. My kids are a bit older than yours so I remember specific lessons in school about this. I don't remember ever being taught about letters in school when I was a kid but of course back then every child would have learned it from a young age because everyone wrote letters back then (no internet of course since that was back in the Dark Ages). At my kids' elementary school there was a whole project where the kids wrote letters to various members of Congress or to local officials, and also to some other famous person or to a company about a product... it was a pretty interesting project.
|
|
|
|
Post by peasapie on Oct 24, 2021 11:05:01 GMT
So funny. I guess he thought anyone who sent him a card was decorating it with stickers.
|
|
|
|
Post by ExpatBackHome on Oct 24, 2021 11:32:05 GMT
So funny, I just had this conversation with my 7 year old since he is experiencing the postal system for the first time. He’s written some letters, I showed him how to address them and we walked to find a blue postal service mail box. On the way there he asked why we had to pay for stamps and I was explaining about all the people that work to deliver his letter need to get paid.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 24, 2024 5:04:37 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2021 13:46:10 GMT
That’s hilarious!
We recently had a 29 year old in our office who didn’t know how to address an envelope.
|
|
rgibson
Full Member
Posts: 467
Apr 26, 2021 22:49:21 GMT
|
Post by rgibson on Oct 24, 2021 13:59:34 GMT
Reminds me of the first year DD1 sent her Nanna ( my mum) a birthday card addressed to Nanna when she first went to Uni - no name just Nanna and the address on the envelope. My middle dd still does this and she is over 30 now and knows very well what her grandparents names are. She also addresses letters to me and dh, her stepdad, as "Mom and Joe" (dh and I don't have the same last name) - I love it! |
|
|
|
Post by revirdsuba99 on Oct 24, 2021 14:01:50 GMT
So funny, I just had this conversation with my 7 year old since he is experiencing the postal system for the first time. He’s written some letters, I showed him how to address them and we walked to find a blue postal service mail box. On the way there he asked why we had to pay for stamps and I was explaining about all the people that work to deliver his letter need to get paid. BTW: Like your new name!! |
|
|
|
Post by revirdsuba99 on Oct 24, 2021 14:04:11 GMT
Reminds me of the first year DD1 sent her Nanna ( my mum) a birthday card addressed to Nanna when she first went to Uni - no name just Nanna and the address on the envelope. My middle dd still does this and she is over 30 now and knows very well what her grandparents names are. She also addresses letters to me and dh, her stepdad, as "Mom and Joe" (we don't have the same last name) - I love it! My youngest DGS, in the Army, addressed his letter to me with no name. Fortunately the rest was correct. His mom told him his last name and mine are the same!! |
|
|
|
Post by peano on Oct 24, 2021 14:16:33 GMT
That is hilarious! I think  DS knows what the purpose of stamps is, but I have had to coach him on how to address an envelope for thank you notes several times. |
|
|
|
Post by malibou on Oct 24, 2021 14:17:52 GMT
Giggle snort!
|
|
J u l e e
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,531
Location: Cincinnati
Jun 28, 2014 2:50:47 GMT
|
Post by J u l e e on Oct 24, 2021 14:19:55 GMT
I love that he called them stickers!
My daughter addresses cards to her grandmother as "Grandma Mim" and then her address. Mim is not her name at all, just a name her grandchildren use. I'm so glad the post office follows addresses and not names.
|
|
|
|
Post by maryland on Oct 24, 2021 14:24:01 GMT
When my 22 yr. old was in 5th grade, she was the only one in the class that knew how to address an envelope! My kids liked to help when I did Christmas cards. They would put Santa stickers on the front of the envelope. So they were familiar with how the back was addressed with return addressw and who you are sending it to address.
But in the defense of young people, I really don't know how to work a cell phone, so they would probably tell their friends that their mom doesn't know how to answer her cell phone!
|
|
RosieKat
Drama Llama
PeaJect #12
Posts: 5,563 
|
Post by RosieKat on Oct 24, 2021 16:13:21 GMT
We recently had a 29 year old in our office who didn’t know how to address an envelope. I so believe you. At the day camp I run, one year we had all the middle schoolers (generally 11-14 years old) write a thank you letter to their parents, and then we were going to mail them after camp was over. These were mostly kids at "good" schools, yet probably a third had no clue how to address the envelope. The truly horrifying thing to me was that several of them didn't know their home address. (This was out of roughly 200 kids, so a decent sample size here.) |
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 24, 2024 5:04:37 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2021 16:17:05 GMT
Haha.
It's not just kids these days. Growing up my husband's mother always took anything they need mailed to work with her as she went to the post office every day at lunch time. They got mail at home but never mailed it out as she took it to work with her.
He was eighteen and we were dating before he learned that if you put mail in your mailbox at home for the postal carrier to pick up, that you need to put the flag up.
|
|
|
|
Post by crazy4scraps on Oct 24, 2021 16:27:59 GMT
Lol. My kids are a bit older than yours so I remember specific lessons in school about this. I don't remember ever being taught about letters in school when I was a kid but of course back then every child would have learned it from a young age because everyone wrote letters back then (no internet of course since that was back in the Dark Ages). At my kids' elementary school there was a whole project where the kids wrote letters to various members of Congress or to local officials, and also to some other famous person or to a company about a product... it was a pretty interesting project. Yes, this! My kid had that unit in first grade! They all made a card for their families and the teacher showed them how to address it properly and put a stamp on it so they could send it to their house. I remember my DD asking every day if “Something came in the mail today” until it arrived! And the funniest part about it was that I was volunteering in the classroom that day. Her teacher used her own address as the sample, and her house number is the exact same as ours but on a different street in our same neighborhood! 🤣 |
|
|
|
Post by crazy4scraps on Oct 24, 2021 16:33:04 GMT
Haha. It's not just kids these days. Growing up my husband's mother always took anything they need mailed to work with her as she went to the post office every day at lunch time. They got mail at home but never mailed it out as she took it to work with her. He was eighteen and we were dating before he learned that if you put mail in your mailbox at home for the postal carrier to pick up, that you need to put the flag up. With all the mailbox pirates that come through our neighborhood, I never put the flag up for outgoing mail especially if it has a check in it. DH sometimes has to mail in payments by check for permits and licenses because not all of our state things can be done online yet. I don’t like to advertise that there might be a check in the mailbox. We have a locking mailbox but that’s only for incoming mail. The outgoing mail is just clipped inside the door so it’s not secure. |
|
milocat
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,616
Location: 55 degrees north in Alberta, Canada
|
Post by milocat on Oct 24, 2021 16:58:34 GMT
Tell him back in the olden days they weren't even stickers, we had to lick them to get them to stick!
My DDs are 20 & 18 and definitely know what stamps are. We've ran our company from our home since they were little. I used to make them get envelopes ready for me for invoicing. Postage stamp in one corner, return address stamp in the other, attn: accounts receivable stamp in the bottom. They'd do hundreds at a time. I'm sure I've failed as a mother in other ways. We don't send thank you cards either, they say thank you then and there that's enough.
|
|
|
|
Post by bc2ca on Oct 24, 2021 17:19:36 GMT
My 17yo son just came in and picked up a book of stamps, and said "What are these stickers for?" too funny My kids (22 & 24) do know what stamps are and have addressed envelopes before, but need to be coaxed through what goes where every couple years. DS had to send a SASE (stamped and self-addressed envelope) along with a form once and was ranting to me about how ridiculous this was. Half way through his rant I realized he sealed the SASE.  Thankfully I was able to rescue the stamp and explained the purpose of a SASE. |
|
|
|
Post by dewryce on Oct 24, 2021 18:29:56 GMT
Stickers.  I’m dying to know if he thought it was a free service and if not, how people paid for it. Thanks for sharing and putting a HUGE smile on my and my DH’s faces! I love that he called them stickers! My daughter addresses cards to her grandmother as "Grandma Mim" and then her address. Mim is not her name at all, just a name her grandchildren use. I'm so glad the post office follows addresses and not names. I just sent a packaged to SIL, addressed to “Jenny Penny,” and to my nephew as “Birthday Boy.” Now that it’s been brought up I realize that I address letters informally much more than using their proper names. I guess I thought that was pretty common. |
|
|
|
Post by librarylady on Oct 24, 2021 19:24:00 GMT
I love that he called them stickers! My daughter addresses cards to her grandmother as "Grandma Mim" and then her address. Mim is not her name at all, just a name her grandchildren use. I'm so glad the post office follows addresses and not names. When I was in college (the Dark Ages), I was sending home a letter. I had 3 siblings still at home, and knew everyone would read my letter. So the envelope said: The Family PO Box town, state, zip
My roommate saw the envelope and said, "Can you do that? Will they get it?" She was shocked that I was not addressing it more formally.
Answer was "yes" and "yes"
|
|
pamelakay
Full Member
Posts: 102
Oct 14, 2021 22:33:22 GMT
|
Post by pamelakay on Oct 24, 2021 19:36:57 GMT
I don't think it is just you, most of us have failed. I think of all the things my daughter will never experiance, the yellow pages, pay phones, a landline in our home, owning set of encyclopedias/dictonary and list goes on...
|
|
|
|
Post by AussieMeg on Oct 24, 2021 22:03:11 GMT
So funny. I guess he thought anyone who sent him a card was decorating it with stickers. Ha, stickers of the Queen! That would be weird. (Not all of our stamps have the Queen on them, but a couple of the ones in my wallet did.) So funny, I just had this conversation with my 7 year old since he is experiencing the postal system for the first time. He’s written some letters, I showed him how to address them and we walked to find a blue postal service mail box. On the way there he asked why we had to pay for stamps and I was explaining about all the people that work to deliver his letter need to get paid. I said to my son when he was shocked about having to pay too send a letter "How do you think the postmen get paid?" He said "Well not with a $1.10 stamp, that's for sure." He was eighteen and we were dating before he learned that if you put mail in your mailbox at home for the postal carrier to pick up, that you need to put the flag up. With all the mailbox pirates that come through our neighborhood, I never put the flag up for outgoing mail especially if it has a check in it. We don't have that system here. Mail sent to us gets put into our letterboxes. If we want to send a letter, we have to find an Australian Post mail box to put it into. There are mailboxes in every few streets, and always mail boxes near any shops and outside post offices. The mail gets collected from these mail boxes at about 6pm each night and taken to the sort centre. I had always seen those little red flags on letter boxes on American TV shows, but I didn't realise what they were for until I read about it here a few years ago. I don't think it is just you, most of us have failed. I think of all the things my daughter will never experiance, the yellow pages, pay phones, a landline in our home, owning set of encyclopedias/dictonary and list goes on... I took DS with me into a department store, when he was about 10. They were selling old style dial phones, and I told DS what they were and asked him to try using it. It was the funniest thing watching him how to use the dial, he had no idea! |
|
finaledition
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,896
|
Post by finaledition on Oct 24, 2021 22:38:55 GMT
I proctored the PSAT at a high school a couple weeks ago and as I was reading the script to complete the address I had 2 kids tell me they didn't know their zip codes. These are supposedly college bound kids and you don't know your zip code?  okee dokee. |
|
Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant
okee dokee. 