
LIFE SKILLS
Written by Caroline Meyer
Your child is like a sponge, constantly soaking up information from the time they are born. As they get older, they start learning from television, school, books, friends and family. But you, as their parent, are the most important teacher. From the beginning you are there for encouragement and support and therefore the most significant person for them to learn from Teaching these five skills to your child will help make a positive impact on their life.
Money skills: Teaching your child about money will help them develop a life skill that will come in handy in the future. Firstly, you can help them explore money, show them different coins and explain the value of money by talking about the price of different items and explaining how money is made. At the same time, you can teach them the importance of saving money and how we can’t always buy the things we want. Take advantage of trips to the supermarket where you can encourage your children to read and compare prices of products so that they can see how the price varies among similar products.
If you give your child pocket money, use it as a way to educate them on saving a portion of it or help them choose something they want to buy and explain how they can save up for it. At a later stage you can give them pocket money for doing their chores or offer them extra money when they do more housework. Doing this will help them gain knowledge and responsibility about money and its worth.
Cooking: Teaching them basic cooking skills from a young age will ensure that they grow up comfortable in a kitchen. Eventually they will learn basic recipes which they can use to cook themselves food or even for the family. Explain to them how to use a recipe in terms of reading the ingredients list and following the instructions.
When you are cooking a meal, you can get your child to help you. Start off by letting them measure out ingredients. You can also let them mix the ingredients as well tearing and chopping if it is safe for them. It is also a good idea to let them cook with foods they don’t really like; this may encourage your child to taste them. Some easy meals to prepare together: pizzas, gingerbread biscuits, fairy cakes or even a simple fruit salad.
IT skills: As the role technology plays on our daily life increases, so does the speed that children are learning IT skills. Take advantage of this by giving them educational games to play so that they can learn both IT skills and other things at the same time.
When your child gets older, you may want to show them how to perform basic tasks on a computer. While showing them how to use the mouse, keyboard, internet, etc. it is also important to discuss online safety. Once they begin using the internet independently, you can consider using parental controls or keeping the computer in an area where you can supervise their searches.
Management of conflict: Facing conflict is something that happens daily. The best way to teach your kids how to handle arguments is to be a good example. This means that you should practice negotiation, talking, explaining and listening rather that screaming and shouting. Whether it be with your children or other adults, you should use these methods so that they learn how to manage conflict correctly.
Public speaking: At many schools, children are given the task to do show-and-tells or some sort of public speaking activities. You can assist in building your child’s confidence so that not only do they excel at school, but also learn an important life skill.
Some important tips to help them learn to be comfortable with public speaking include:
Encouraging them to do fun performances such as acting, dancing or singing a song. Let them dress up and put make up on so that the experience is enjoyable. This simply helps them grow accustomed to being in the spotlight. Expand their audience so that they can perform in front of friends and family too, even if it is just telling a story about school. Give them a chance to write or draw what is on their mind and give them props to use, this can help with their memory and planning skills. Teach them how to get their point across by looking up while talking and speaking slowly and clearly. Always put in time and effort in order to support your child when they have a speaking task for school, helping them practice is a great way to build their confidence.
Giving your child the foundational life skills at an early age can go a long way to helping them develop and grow the skills as they get older. This can be important simply in learning to cope on their own or even towards their future life goals or career choice.