9 Life Skills Your Child Should Know

 

Welcome back to The Mommy at Home!

Stemming from the blog on age-appropriate chores, comes this edition of learning valuable life-skills early in life. Children need to learn certain valuable life-skills, which will help them later in life, when they become teenagers, and when they step into the real world. 

Get a jumpstart on teaching practical lessons to your children right now, starting with decision making and then building on each life skill as your children grow. 

This is one of the most important life-skills that a child could ever learn. It helps them throughout their life to make better choices. Start small by asking them to choose between their two favourite ice-cream flavours, two favourite t-shits, two favourite toys, so on and so forth. As your children will grow, they'll understand the rewards of good decisions and consequences of bad ones. Your role will be to talk them through the process of decision making, helping them understand the pros and cons of making a certain decision.

It is never too early to start teaching children about health and hygiene. When we start potty-training, we tell them why it is important to not soil their clothes. But, we never tell them why it is important to have a bath, brush our teeth, wash hands and change clothes everyday. Hence, it becomes a boring chore for them and we need to continuously remind them of it. Sit down and explain why it is important to maintain good hygiene. Aid your explanation with flashcards, videos or books - whatever works well for you and your child. Maintaining good health and hygiene will come more naturally to your child if they see the same thing being done by the parents. Make a chart where both you and your child tick off these daily routine things. Slowly you will feel that it has become second nature to your child and you won't feel the need to use a chart.

As a parent, you know how important it is to manage time effectively in order to get things done. The same needs to be taught to your children early in life. Not only does teaching younger children how to measure time, stay on task and keep a schedule, make your days easier, but also helps children become masters of their time so that they can do everything from waking up on time to someday, getting to work on time. 

I cannot stress enough on the importance of this one. Whether boys or girls, children need to be able to feed themselves at any given point in their lives. My brother and I have both been away from home a lot while studying and working; and we wouldn't have been able to survive if we didn't know how to plan meals. Children at any age can potter around in the kitchen. Whether it is preparing their own cereal bowl or fixing a simple sandwich in the beginning, with a little supervision, children should be able to fix small meals for themselves. From tots to teens, you children can always help you around the kitchen. This will only equip them to be independent when they step out alone in the real world. As your children become more confident in the kitchen, they can add on other meals prep life skills like making healthy food choices and following a regimen for eating on time to making a simple meal on the stove with a bit of supervision from you. 

If you are teaching basic math and counting to your children, then why not teach them to add and subtract money too? It is because money is an alien subject till later on in a child's life, that they struggle with money as an adult. Now is the perfect time to start teaching them how to manage money so that they'll be better off when they start receiving their paychecks. Start small by telling them how much you are paying at a store and how much change you got back. Let them pay for their treats and ask them count the change. Introduce piggy banks when they ask for big treats and teach them to save up for it. Let them decide what they want to spend their money on. Talk about your own decisions with money. Let money become a normal topics of discussion at home. Teach kids effective money management so they can learn how to save, spend wisely, make change, and most importantly - that writing a check or using a credit card isn't free money. 

It is often easier when we ask the house help to clean the house or do it ourselves, simply because it is faster and easier that way. But think about it, it is rather a missed opportunity for teaching children the importance of a clean house - a skill that they would find useful when they go out to study or when they'll get into a house of their own. It's true they absorb what they see, but it is important to know a skill first, before delegating it further. Start with my age-appropriate charts and help them build on their habits. 

Why do people become impulsive shoppers. Why does one feel the urge to buy something at a single glance and then maybe buy a variety of something? Comparison shopping is a valuable life skill where one learns to think before buying - understanding the difference between 'need' and 'want'. Train your children early in life, to choose between items. Your child likes both, pink and orange dress - let them decide which one they should buy, and discuss the 'why'. This also trains them to be more humble and think holistically and selflessly in the long run.

This is again coming from personal experience. Being encouraged to place orders at the best restaurants is one the many ways to encourage children to speak in public and make conversation with people other than family and friends. This also comes under decision making as children may need to think of alternatives when placing orders. Pitch in when you feel that the child is ordering too much or too little, food allergies, etc. Let them ask you what you want to eat. Use special occasions like their birthdays, "Today it'll be your treat! What are you going to order for us?" Making children feel accountable and responsible is a great way to help them develop the life skill of decision making and being responsible for those decisions. 

So, here's a recap. 

Let me know in the comments, what life-skills you believe children should know.

Until next time.

Ciao Mommies