CNN health | Your children need life skills — this dad explains how to teach them

(CNN) – I taught my 12-year-old daughter to change a car battery at 8 p.m. in a grocery store parking lot.

It’s one of the many skills that I want her to know in case she ever finds herself stranded in a parking lot — just like her father at that very moment. I also wanted to get her familiar with a car engine, even though to me it mostly looks like metal spaghetti.

Parents know there is a whole host of life skills that our children need to learn, but my reasons date back to my childhood.

My father taught me how to do laundry, but no one talked about mental health — we covered up our issues with bro talk and the firm belief that real men don’t cry.  —read more—