Raising our children to be self-aware, self-reliant and confident individuals in no easy feat. One way parents can do this is by teaching them life skills. Life skills are skills that children acquire through learning and experience which help them adjust and adapt to changes and challenges in their daily lives.
These skills provide children with important tools for well-rounded development, such as independent thinking, how to socialize and make new friends, make decisions without supervision or even understand their own emotions and express themselves.
Parents and Educators can take an active role in teaching life-skills that provide real life examples and lessons in critical thinking, decision making and problem solving. What is even more important is to start them young. Simple to do at home assignments and activities are really helpful in children’s experiential learning
- Follow a certain daily routine
- Budgeting exercises through an allowance
- Taking care of pets
- Volunteering in the community
- Fun organizing activities like planning a game night for the family
- How to do laundry
- How to safely use kitchen appliances and prepare basic meals
- Reading books/articles
- Expressing gratitude
- Making simple meals
- DIY project
These are just a few examples from a sea of ideas and activities parents can do with their children and help them build self-regulation, teach empathy, improve concentration and expose them to diversity and different perspectives and situations than their own.
Life skills, no matter how varied and different, are valuable lessons a child uses throughout his lifetime to help build a bright future. And this is without a doubt, what every mother wants for her child!