Family Living Educator Offering "Adulting" Classes for Young People

Thursday, January 16th, 2025 -- 9:00 AM

(Joel Patenaude, Wisconsin Public Radio) “Adulting” is how many young people refer to the myriad ways they’re required to adopt the life skills of grown-ups.

Unfortunately, these skills, from buying groceries, signing leases and paying taxes, aren’t always taught before they’re needed. Offering classes under the broad umbrella of “independent living skills” are people like Amanda Kostman, a family living educator with the University of Wisconsin-Extension’s Human Development and Relationships Institute.

“At the beginning of my classes, I survey students to find out what they want to know,” Kostman said recently on WPR’s “The Larry Meiller Show.” “Sometimes that takes us to a laundromat, and we learn how to do laundry."

"I might take them to a car dealership to find out how to buy a car. It could be how to eat healthy, go grocery shopping on a budget,” she said. “We work through all those different skills that people need as an adult to be successful.”

Kostman works primarily in Walworth County, but she said there are UW-Extension educators in most of the other 71 counties of Wisconsin. “Sometimes they are 4-H educators or youth development educators,” she said. Kostman said she taps the expertise of her community.

“We have an attorney who does a great job talking to kids about rental issues, like signing a lease, but also (what to do when) you’re pulled over (by law enforcement ), and how to retain an attorney. We bring in somebody from the health care field to talk about insurance, how to get it, how to talk with your doctor,” Kostman explained.

“If we can give kids the opportunity to really hear from people in these professions, they feel more prepared to have those conversations.” State residents aren’t limited to the programs offered in the county where they live.

Online programs available through the UW-Extension website include programs for adults as well as people approaching adulthood.

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