Is it enough for your child to only learn the fundamental skills of reading, writing, math, and science needed to be competitive in the high-tech workforce of 21st century? While these skills are essentials, they may not prepare a child to face the complex and evolving society of tomorrow when they enter their adult life.
At home, you need to teach your child skills that they must acquire as they step into adulthood and begin their life independently. You can teach these skills by setting examples, by talking to them, and giving your child some freedom to practice these skills even if they fail initially. So, what are these skills?
Social skills like compassion, love, listening, etc. are difficult tasks for many children. One of the most difficult tasks is listening and we find lots of adults lack this skill because they were not taught how to listen to others when they were young.
Teach your child the importance of listening and trying to understand what others are saying before she speaks out. Set yourself as an example by not interrupting your child when she is telling you something.
As kids, we learn how to be competitive and we carry those competitive instincts in to our adulthood by resorting to back-stabbing, undercutting and feelings of resentment. Instead, let your child learn that there is room for many people to be successful as a group.
Encourage your child to participate in group sports and games like baseball, volleyball, etc. where the success of the team depends on the cooperation among team members. This will instill in your child the sense of helping each other to be successful.
Teach your child how to manage failure. Childhood is filled with ups and downs. Many parents resort to bad examples when their child fails in an endeavor. Don’t set examples that will be interpreted as “failure is bad” by your child.
Instead, help them develop can-do-attitude by setting examples for your and child’s failures. Encourage them to move on and learn lessons from their failure so that they can apply those lessons to succeed the next time.
Many parents avoid asking their children to do household chores because they think that their children are not ready yet. The same is also true for giving the financial responsibilities to a child. But parents should teach the concept of responsibilities to their kids from their early ages.
Give your child small age-appropriate jobs to accomplish within a time frame. There should be age appropriate reward and punishment components to the job. You should also teach your child the concept of saving, budgeting, paying your bills on time, living within one’s means, and other personal finance matters.
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