Can Beijing's Teens Cook an Egg and Fold Laundry?

Call me old-fashioned but I like to think of cooking and cleaning as essential life skills, amongst other things. It’s been said by members of the – *ahem* – older generation that kids nowadays lack all the basic survival skills their forebears held in high regard.

These same naysayers claim that children are endlessly pampered by the attendant comforts afforded the new wealth of developing countries such as China. Not to mention technology’s sheer obliteration of many skills, what with food delivery within 30 minutes. Plus, parental protection and attention, supplemented by an ayi – especially when you’re an expat kid – tends to run on the higher side. It may be that we’re living in a foreign country and whatnot, but all these reasons compound to create an environment that doesn’t exactly breed great self-sufficiency.

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Or so you say. We decided to put this theory to the test by getting four interns, aged 13 to 17, to prove to us that they are indeed independent and self-sufficient young adults. The tests? We decided on some of the bare necessities needed for surviving on your own – cooking instant noodles, hard boiling an egg, and folding laundry!

Watch the video below to find out how they did! Let's start with cooking instant noodles.

How about cooking a hard-boiled egg?

Finally, how about laundry?

Images: Unsplash, Pexels