Homemaking skills dying out

Homemaking skills died out with the 1950s according to research that finds today’s mothers don’t have time to starch shirts or make curtains.

But even simple tasks like stitching a name tag into their children’s uniform baffled 52 per cent of parents.

And 83 per cent couldn’t knock up a fancy dress costume.

The findings come from a study by Neff of 1000 mums under 35 and 1000 mums over 45 years of age.

Spokesperson for Neff, Sue Flowers said: “We know that modern mums are under different pressures today compared with 40 years ago.

“As a result, many mums find it difficult to do some of the daily tasks their own mums may have done. However, our research has shown that many do want to learn how to do these things and feel as passionate as we do about ensuring skills such as baking and sewing don’t die out.”

A third of mums who were unable to do ‘mum’ tasks admitted to feeling embarrassed about their lack of skills.

A fifth said they couldn’t be bothered to learn them and 21 per cent didn’t have the patience.