Child Development 101: Best Way To Teach Your Child Life Skills

Life skills are the abilities and information that help us manage the demands and challenges of everyday life. Teaching children basic life skills as they age will help them become more confident and independent.

What does ‘life skill’ mean?

First and foremost, what exactly does the term ‘life skill’ mean? Life skill’ refers to abilities required for survival, self-sufficiency, and productivity in everyday life. A person who lacks these abilities may be less able to operate independently, as they will not know how to do basic tasks such as cooking dinner or making their bed. They would also have difficulty caring for themselves emotionally, socially, and financially.

Children should begin acquiring these many life skills at a young age so that they have plenty of opportunities to practice them before reaching adulthood. The following are some of the most useful life skills that any youngster should learn:

Preparing a simple meal

Invite your child to assist prepare meals and try to remain calm when flour spills and eggshells fly. Here are some suggestions to get young toddlers started in the kitchen.

Try chopping a banana with a plastic or wooden knife.

Allow children to spoon yogurt into a bowl and add sliced, prewashed fruit.

Show youngsters ages 5 and up how to make sandwiches and smoothies.

Allow those aged 7 and up to try using the toaster oven.

If you steadily build on their developing cooking skills, your child should be able to use the stovetop with supervision by the age of ten.

Making Good Use of the Web

With children spending more time on screens than ever before, Joscelyn Ramos Campbell, a mom of four in Clermont, Florida, who blogs at Mami of Multiples, believes it’s critical to reiterate a few guidelines to help them navigate the digital world securely. As soon as your youngster can use technology unsupervised, review these best practices:

• Help your youngster select a difficult-to-guess password and instruct them not to share it with anyone other than you.
• Ensure that your child only chats with people they know in person and does not share personal information such as their birthdate, home address, or phone number.
• Remind your child to be kind; anything they send or say digitally will remain forever.
• Before your child downloads something or clicks on a pop-up, have them ask for your permission or request assistance.
• Most crucially, let your child know they can come to you with any problems. “This is a conversation you will have again and again as your children get older,” Ramos Campbell tells me.

Doing laundry

Too many teenagers leave on their own without understanding how to clean their clothes. Do not allow your child to become one of them.

When children are approximately six years old, you can start teaching them how to launder clothes. Keep a step stool close hand if your washer is top-loading. As you guide them through the procedure, make it enjoyable by showing them how to measure and add the detergent, select the settings, and turn on the machine.

Constructing a Seedling

Lots of toddlers learn in class how to sow seeds, but not how to move the sprouts into a garden. The following is how Whitney Cohen, education director of Life Lab and co-author of The Book of Gardening Projects for Kids, breaks it down:

Set up a space for the seedling. If at all possible, top the soil with two inches of organic compost. Stir it in, break up any clods of dirt, then water the soil until it is nearly as wet as a sponge.

Make a hole. Have your child dig a hole that is just a little bit bigger than the plant’s pot.

Take the seedling out. By the age of six or seven, children can pull up a seedling by themselves. To begin, ask your youngster to split two fingers apart so that the stem of the plant is in between them. Next, invert the potted seedling and apply pressure to the exterior of the container until the plant emerges. Your child should release a couple of the tightly twisted roots at a time before planting.

Plant it! After taking the plant out of the pot and setting it in the hole, gently pat it down and put the soil around it with your child’s hands.
Aqua. Allow your youngster to water it with a watering can with a perforated nozzle, giving it a little stream.

Composing a Letter

It doesn’t have to be a lost art to write letters. With drawings included, of course, toddlers can narrate a note to a friend or family member, affix a stamp, and place it in a mailbox. More mature kids can write their letters and address envelopes. Moreover, you should use this chance to teach them the five components of a letter, which are the date, salutation, body, closure, and signature.

Aiding A Person Who Is Choking

Children as young as nine years old can learn CPR, according to the American Heart Association. For children in second grade and up, programs like Heimlich Heroes provide tools for abdominal thrust training.

Cumming, Georgia, mother Andrea Saroza, a former EMT, began teaching her children the fundamentals when the children were still in preschool. Saroza says, “I made them practice on teddy bears.” When her daughter Kiara Fernandez, now 14 years old, prevented her younger sister Jadah, 12, from choking in a restaurant in 2019 when Saroza wasn’t there, it was clear that those lessons had paid off.

The Heimlich Heroes website offers a free, 15-minute online training program that breaks down the Heimlich maneuver into age-appropriate instructions. According to Heimlich Heroes, the fundamentals consist of:

If the person is unable to respond when you ask if they are choking, they need help right away.
Scream for assistance and direct someone to dial 911.
Start the Heimlich technique: Place your hands around the person who is choking and stand behind them. Next, position the thumb side of your clenched fist slightly above the belly button but below the rib cage. Lastly, take hold of your fist with your other hand and quickly shove it upward and inside into their abdomen.

Repeat till the thing comes out.

Treating a Wound

To help your child not stress out when they see blood, try to avoid having a strong reaction yourself. Giving kids a first-aid strategy will also help distract children from the discomfort and come in handy when you aren’t available to kiss their boo-boos.

To cure a minor cut, the American Academy of Dermatology Association suggests:

• To prevent contamination of the wound, wash your hands with soap and water.
• Cleaning the cut with soap and tepid water to remove dirt and debris.
• Press hard on the area with a clean cloth until the bleeding stops (typically one or two minutes).
• Use a cotton swab to apply petroleum jelly and keep the wound wet
• Applying an adhesive bandage or using gauze and tape to cover the wound

Getting Around

If you’ve ever followed the turn-by-turn directions on your GPS and ended up lost, you understand the importance of being able to read maps, even ones on your phone. Allow your kids to participate in geocaching, finish a treasure hunt, or guide you through a museum or zoo. Your child’s navigation abilities will improve as a result of these activities.

Comparative Buying

Being a savvy shopper requires practice. Try the following three steps with your children:

As you proceed, explain. Talk to your child about options and prices by stating things like, “I’m getting gas at the other station because it costs 10 cents less per gallon there.” Tell them about the items you wish you had (the newest gadgets or sneakers, for example), but can’t afford to buy.

Sometimes, let your child pay. After giving your child an allowance, assign them specific things to buy, such as new toys or video games. This allows your child to learn how to handle their finances and feel the joy of saving for and ultimately purchasing something they desire.

Take part in the grocery game. Whether you’re grocery shopping in person or online, set a challenge for your child to discover the cheapest cereal.

Self-control abilities

The abilities of self-management, self-awareness, and self-evaluation can assist young students in overcoming their day-to-day obstacles. This could be as simple as using a device sensibly or completing homework after school. Motivate kids to be imaginative, relish solitude, and cultivate self-reliance.

The ability to feel emotions

Kids must acquire the skills to identify, regulate, and comprehend their own emotions in addition to being able to comprehend and relate to those of others. They can negotiate social situations more skillfully and form healthier connections as a result.

Problem-solving and critical-thinking skills

The capacity for objective analysis of a situation to make a decision and provide workable solutions is known as critical thinking. Being able to evaluate the possible consequences of their behavior is beneficial for the child. In addition, they ought to be able to recognize other options and evaluate both their own and the values of people around them.

Proficiency in finances

Financial decision-making in later life is facilitated by early exposure to financial concepts. Basic concepts like sharing and spending are understandable to children. Mathematical concepts like planning, counting money, and comprehending income and expenses are helpful.

How to Deal With Failure

Learning how to cope effectively with failure is one of the most important life skills that children should learn from a young age. They need to understand that it’s normal not to be perfect because everyone makes errors, but they should never give up on themselves. This will help them stay motivated and persevere at challenging moments in their lives, both at school and at work.

You may assist your child learn how to deal with failure by discussing many types of failures, such as academic, social, and career failures. You can also encourage kids to create realistic objectives for themselves and participate in challenges that will help them improve their talents.

Digital literacy skills

With the digital world at their fingertips, it is critical to teach children how to consume internet content consciously, allowing them to distinguish between informative and thoughtless stuff. Early digital literacy broadens educational opportunities, fosters creativity, and teaches online safety. Familiarity with digital technologies enables our students to become confident, responsible digital citizens in a technologically driven world.

Wellbeing skills

Wellbeing includes physical, emotional, and mental health. It ensures that children develop in a balanced and healthy manner, creating a solid basis for future growth. Well-being promotes positive behavior. Children who are emotionally and physically healthy are more likely to behave properly, which leads to increased productivity in school and beyond.

What to consider when teaching a child new life skills.

There are numerous factors to consider when teaching life skills to children. This applies to any new ability that you teach a youngster. Here’s an excellent list of things to remember:

Your child’s readiness

Consider your child’s personality, age, coordination, and physical capabilities. Are they neurodivergent, with different developmental skills than other kids their age?

The Time to Teach

Try to avoid periods when your child is not prepared to learn, such as when they are hungry or exhausted. You may also wish to remove any distractions.

The difficulty level

Consider if the skill is tough or easy, and make sure it is developmentally appropriate. Teaching a five-year-old how to change a tire can be frustrating since they lack the motor skills and other necessary abilities.

Take as much time as you need.

Do not speed through the steps. Remember that one youngster may spend months on step one, whilst another completes it in five minutes and is ready to go on. Teaching a life skill may not be quick, which is fine. I’ve been on step three with one of my boys for nearly two years, teaching him how to pack for camping. One day, he’ll be able to pack himself! Folding clothing, for example, is a task that most youngsters five and older can complete quickly. Allow your child to feel confident enough to accomplish the activity before removing yourself from the situation.

Encourage.

Focus on applauding children’s life skills or pointing out what they are learning. Try to avoid “personality praise,” which includes titles like “good kid” or “rock star.” Instead, praise the skill they mastered and the effort they put in to complete it.

Make the Experience Positive.

Concentrate on what your child is doing well, not what they are doing badly. The skill will increase over time and much faster if you build your youngster up rather than (unintentionally) pulling them down.

Find a Developmentally Appropriate Approach to Teaching

Adapt the tools to finish the skill. For example, my sister-in-law taught her daughter how to bake pancakes when she was just five years old! She filled an empty ketchup bottle with pancake batter, sprayed the skillet, and gave the bottle to her daughter. They then flipped the pancakes together again to ensure their protection from the hot pan. With this basic apparatus, Sadie was able to safely squeeze the batter onto the hot skillet. It also allowed her to get creative and create a Mickey Mouse head! GENIUS!

Allow Your Child Time to Practice.

As with anything, practice makes perfect, right? Perfection is not the desired outcome, but it does make jobs simpler as you practice. We completed steps one through three of the cooking skills in one day. It just took a day or so for my youngster to completely scramble those eggs on his own. We still supervise or are there in the room to ensure that the burner is switched off.

Conclusion

The significance of developing life skills in a child’s early years cannot be overstated. In reality, the preschool years are ideal for teaching children skills that will help them become independent, responsible, and confident. These are necessary for everyday life and learning how to become self-sufficient individuals. Learning these abilities at a young age also helps youngsters prepare better for kindergarten and beyond.