7 Lost Feminine Skills We're Reclaiming This Year

Part of being a feminine woman is becoming well-rounded. Jane Austen would say it's essential for a young lady to be “accomplished,” and even though said accomplishments might have changed since that time in history, they are still necessary. There comes a point, especially in our modern day with the world’s knowledge at our fingertips, when excuses or blaming a shallow education just doesn’t cut it.

I have such fond memories of sitting with a cozy blanket on our well-loved sofa in the living room with my siblings, knitting away as my mom read aloud, usually Redwall or Narnia, and she did all the voices. During the Christmas season, we’d break out an unholy number of Christmas cookie tins, packed with treats that we made from scratch, and all our friends drooled over them. We also played a genius-level amount of board games and did puzzles and crafts growing up. My parents were very can-do people, and my mom learned how to cook and homeschool without any prior training from her mother.

Now, for the average American family on the standard American diet, that picture of domestic creativity has changed to iPads and regular fast food breakfasts or frequent frozen casseroles from the supermarket. If it’s not packaged cookies with an indefinite shelf life, it’s weeks-old, preservative-filled, plastic-wrapped cookie dough from the store. Family time means siblings texting on their phones with headphones shutting out the rest of the world and their family, when they’re not fighting over the Xbox. If there’s a slight rip or tear in an item of clothing, it’s trashed. Reading the basic minimum is a chore that’s barely achieved to avoid failing at school, and quality family time is something reserved for old-time movies. Christmas gifts are just more Amazon packages (I'm guilty too) with zero creative effort made. Learning to sew or cook is regarded by the public as a cultish trademark of the “Trad Wife,” which sounds as dramatic as The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and gets the same amount of rage bait on social media.

Maybe we secretly wished our park-day lunches included Twinkies and Lunchables like some of our friends’, but looking back, I heave a sigh of relief that I had a crunchy mom who made us drink health shots and eat salad and who cooked meals from scratch. She taught us how to cook; I learned to cook and bake independently when I was short enough to need a full-size chair to access the kitchen counter. No family is perfect, including mine, but compared to families I’ve known and nannied for, I’m so grateful my parents raised us to be creative and capable.

Those small, practical skills gave me a quiet confidence, the kind that shows up in everyday moments and signals that someone was raised to be capable, not just comfortable. And as adults, it’s worth asking which of those once-ordinary skills we’ve let disappear, and which ones are worth reclaiming. Here's a list of 7 lost feminine skills to add to your 2026 resolutions and reclaim this year.

Handwriting In Cursive

It’s embarrassing for the female sex how many times I’ve encountered a girl who laughingly shrugged at her scribble, almost as if it’s a secret flex. Instead of joking about your chicken scratch, you’d probably feel more confident and put together if you cleaned up your writing and styled yourself an elegant signature you can be proud of.

It’s not that hard to handwrite clearly, even if it’s not elaborate. Learn so you can teach it to your children, even if you don’t intend to homeschool.

Memorizing Phone Numbers

We should at least be able to memorize those of immediate family and closest friends. I embarrassingly put myself in this category when I realized I can only remember the phone numbers of my older four siblings, because I remember dialing them as a child at home on an ancient, corded phone.

Add this skill to your list this year for emergency purposes, at the very least.

Reading Paper Maps

What if your phone dies, you don’t have a charger, you’re alone, and there’s no cop in sight for miles? It sounds far fetched, but I’ve actually been in that situation, and I can tell you: it's not ideal. One year for Christmas my sister also got lost driving in the country visiting our parents because her phone lost signal, so she had no Google Maps. We finally saw her coming up the driveway with a police escort who had driven with her for over 20 minutes to make sure she reached her destination safely.

Even though I would get frustrated as a teenager when my parents would pull a gas station paper map out of the glove compartment, squint at it, and we’d end up trying three different routes before arriving successfully at our destination, I learned to appreciate how my parents stubbornly refused to let a phone do all their thinking for them. They maintained a sense of independence while exercising their memory and sense of direction.

Do I still mostly use my phone for directions? Absolutely, because I'm a typical girl in the fact that my sense of direction is horrible. But I now keep a hard-copy map that I can read in my glove compartment, just in case, and I know it would make my mother’s day to read this.

Ingenious as the modern tool may be, the fact remains that it’s a digital map crutch. We should at least be able to drive in familiar areas without Google Maps. If you struggle with directions or recently moved to a new city, it helps to look at a map of the city and memorize the main highways and roads and what direction each runs in.

Reducing dependence on technology helps stretch our memory and improve directional awareness. When I’ve moved to a new city as an adult, I always study Google Maps to familiarize myself with the layout.

Sewing

Learning even the basics of sewing and mending is extremely practical and can save you money in the long run. Accidentally rip a tear in your favorite dress you bought in Rome on your first Italian vacation (true story), but still want to wear it? Time to whip out the little tin sewing box you aimlessly bought ages ago along with your emergency first-aid kit.

Embroidery is an elegant and feminine skill that’s been lost along with cursive, but it can be such a rewarding hobby and a thoughtful way to make personalized gifts. And if you prefer working with yarn over thread, knitting and crocheting are absolutely established members of the sewing family.

I loved crocheting and knitting as a girl. I even made snow hats and matching scarves as gifts for family and friends. My dad still wears the first hat I crocheted for him 15 years ago for Christmas every year. Sweet and personal, yet practical gifts are always a win.

Setting The Table Properly

This one is a must, especially for family meals or hosting as an adult. It’s a feminine art that’s been growing dusty lately with grandma’s handkerchiefs.

Sure, you probably won’t set a fine table most weekdays, but whether it’s for a Sunday dinner, date night at home, or picking the short straw for hosting a holiday dinner with all the in-laws, knowing how to properly set a nice table is essential, with or without lots of extra trimmings and décor.

Making A Fire

This one might seem random, but take my word for it, it’s such a fun camping skill to pull out. Making a fire is not just cool but an essential survival skill that usually only former Eagle Scouts know. After all, women used to light fires every day in their fireplaces, unless they were rich enough to have servants do it for them, and even then it was often the female house servants.

Here’s an easy instruction on how to build a fire. You can check out some videos on YouTube as well.

Cooking Well

It’s not enough to barely scramble eggs or heat up boxed pasta. Learning to cook well, get creative in the kitchen, and prepare healthy and delicious meals is something your current or future man will love, not to mention your taste buds. If you have a man or want a man in your life, guys are simple creatures. The way to a man’s heart is truly through his stomach.

In 2026 we're doing away with the excuses. It’s time to bow-tie that dusty apron your auntie made you and polish up your wifey resume. Even if you never had guidance in the kitchen or culinary training, if you can read, then you can cook. Thank goodness for Pinterest. Evie also has some useful cooking articles, including one for cycle-safe dinners and one for cooking for two.

Just because these classic skills aren’t taught anymore doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn and cherish them. We’re far past the feminist idea that the stove is a ball and chain to a domestic cage. Just as masculine men take healthy pride in being capable, doing the heavy lifting, knowing how to fix things, or chopping wood, we can take reasonable satisfaction in building a repertoire of feminine skills to add to our desirability.