A lot of parents mistakenly think that children can only learn and understand life skills once they reach high school. As a result, there’s not much intentional ‘training’ happening at the early years of a kid. Most moms would ‘baby’ their children even though they’re at the third, fourth grade already, making these youngsters so dependent. Too dependent that even what they’d wear to church will have to be picked by mom or dad. The truth is, you can start teaching your kids life skills very early on. At five or six, you can groom them already in being good at these things:
Decision-Making
It’s vital to equip your child in making their own choices. Not only to make your visit to the toy store quick but also to train their discernment of things and boost their confidence. How then can you make them good, wise decision-makers? For one, walk them through the process. Show them how you weigh the pros and cons of each choice. So for instance, the next time you’re picking a birthday gift for their classmate, you might want to discuss with them openly the items’ prices, the friends’ interests and hobbies, and the message they want to communicate with the present. With all these laid out, they’ll understand that for decisions to be good; they should be able to see the different aspects of their choices. Of course, it will take time for them to deepen their judgment of things, but as your child learns more in Lit’l Scholars Learning Center, Salt Lake City-based psychologists say that they’ll acquire new perspectives and experiences that will sharpen their discernment.
Time Management
Kids aren’t exactly the most time-sensitive people. In the morning, when going to school or church, your household probably buzzes with shouts and yells of ‘hurry up!’, ‘what’s taking you so long?’ or ‘we’re so late!’. In the afternoon, after school, the struggle takes a different version: you find it challenging to tell kids that it’s time to do homework. The thing is, you will never have to worry about these things when you teach your kids the value of time management. How exactly do you do that? One, teach them how to read the time on the clock. Or perhaps this is already being taught to them at school. Ask them to block off certain hours for specific activities, like going to school, doing homework, playing with gadgets, and helping with the house chores. With this, they’ll gain ownership of their schedule and stick to it better. You can also teach them to plan in terms of weeks and months. Let them plot your camping trips and grandma visits. Encourage them to color their calendars. Over time, this habit will help them be more time-sensitive.
Money Management
Your kids learn to count in school. They understand basic maths. Now, extend those lessons to how they should properly manage money. At this, they should be able to do two things: save some cash and track expenses. For the former, give them a financial goal each month to motivate them to save and hold off buying things. For younger kids, you can give them a piggy bank in the meantime. But for the older ones, open a bank account for them. For the latter, tell them to journal their everyday expenses. Essentially, what you’re after in this habit is instilling in them the perspective that money doesn’t grow on trees.
Life Skills at an Early Age
Young as they are, your kids can acquire important skills that will help them throughout their lifetime. Don’t miss the opportunity of training them. Start ‘em young.
