A renowned Canadian university has launched a bizarre ‘Adulting 101’ campaign for pampered students who can’t perform the most basic life tasks like changing a tire, buying groceries or doing laundry.

In an era dominated by digital innovation, Generation Z – or those born between 1997 and 2012 – are in desperate need of practical knowledge that older generations might otherwise consider ‘common sense’.

‘I don’t know how to change a tire. I don’t have a car at all,’ Aldhen Garcia, a first-year student at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), told CBC’s The Current.

‘I don’t know how to sew,’ he added. ‘I don’t know how to do a lot of things, other than cooking.’ 

The University of Waterloo, a top-ranked institution in Ontario known for its programs in math, computer science and engineering, has responded to the growing demand by launching an online communications campaign – Adulting 101, or the Adulting Guide.

The campaign is designed to unify resources from several departments across campus, promoting student well-being and personal growth.

Through creative, accessible messaging, Adulting Guide encourages students to prioritize their mental and physical health, embrace new responsibilities and explore opportunities for development.

By connecting students with existing campus resources, Adulting Guide offers a fresh, relatable approach to navigating adulthood in college – tackling essential life skills that many Gen Z students find challenging, such as cooking, budgeting, basic nutrition, laundry and even navigating a grocery store. 

‘You’ve probably already started to notice that things won’t get done unless you do them,’ a course description on the university’s website reads.

‘From managing your finances, grocery shopping, keeping your laundry whites… white, staying organized – there are a lot of important life skills you might have wished you learned sooner.’

Beyond teaching basic life skills, the campaign emphasizes mental and physical health – encouraging students to explore their personal growth through practice in leadership and teamwork, intercultural communication, problem-solving and decision-making and time management.

The university also offers skill evaluations to help students identify their strengths and areas for improvement. 

‘What you’re experiencing is normal,’ director of student success Pam Charbonneau said in a message to those struggling. 

‘A lot of your peers are going through the same thing at the same time.’

The communications campaign covers everything from maintaining healthy relationships, practicing fire safety in the kitchen and changing a tire.

For many, the campaign has been a saving grace – not only helping them personally, but also boosting their daily confidence in navigating the ins and outs of adulthood.

According to Charbonneau, many students report feeing anxious or stressed as they figure out their life post-secondary school, and that access to resources like ‘Adulting 101’ helps normalize their experiences.

She added that many students have also expressed a wish that they had learned these skills earlier in life.

Experts have attributed the generation’s lack of skills to several factors, including the decreasing independence these young adults are given during childhood.

Jean Twenge, a researcher and psychology professor at San Diego State University, suggests that prolonged adolescence and ‘helicopter’ parenting have delayed development among Gen Z.

Twenge, who studies generational differences, argued that limiting children’s freedom and failing to teach them practical skills is only doing them ‘a disservice’, as reported by CBC.

‘We send them off to adulthood without other skills,’ she told the outlet.

‘If they’re not learning how to make decisions on their own and solve problems, that can be challenging.’

As the author of several books, Twenge has extensively researched how a lack of foundational knowledge leaves young people more prone to making costly mistakes in everyday life.

In her 2017 book titled iGen, Twenge introduced the concept of the ‘slow life strategy’ – an idea where people live longer, spend more time in school and parents tend to have fewer children, but raise them with greater care and intention.

This approach, she explained, often leads to kids gaining independence later than previous generations.

Another reason for the gap may be that students are living at home for longer periods, which often results in them taking on fewer responsibilities as parents continue to manage the household tasks.

She encouraged parents to move away from the mindset that they must do everything for their children, and instead start involving them in tasks like cooking and laundry at an earlier age.

However, Twenge’s primary concern while analyzing the gap is the rising rates of depression and other mental health issues among young people. 

A 2023 commentary published in the Journal of Pediatrics reviewed dozens of studies and reports, concluding that the rise in mental health issues among young people is linked to fewer opportunities for children and teens to socialize away from adults. 

The commentary suggested that depriving young people of independence can contribute to elevated levels of anxiety, depression and suicide.

‘Self-advocacy is probably the most important piece and probably where the gap is right when they come in, if they really haven’t had to do much of that before,’ Charbonneau said, as reported by CBC.

‘You see their shoulders drop when they realize there’s actually someone and something here to help me solve my problem.’ 

Other universities have also began offering similar programs that address topics such as planning, finances and first aid.

While Twenge supports universities offering basic life skill practice for Gen Z, she emphasizes that the real solution must start much earlier.