Do you ever wonder how your child is going to make it in the big wide world? You may not have had the skills yourself, so you learned the hard way, but if you are thinking about teaching your children some important lessons in life, here are some of the key skills that will help them in the long run.
Being “Handy”
The fact is that millennial parents do not possess the same skills their parents had. We may be handy with computers, but they were much handier with car stuff and fixing leaks or any problems around the house. Being handy is one of those benefits because you will immediately know how to fix problems that occur on an almost regular basis, whether it is a leak in the water pipe or changing the oil in the car, but it also helps to save money.
First Aid
This is another thing that we may not necessarily know how to do. A lot of people wouldn’t know what to do in the case of an emergency. But it’s something that we can teach our children to tend to themselves in the worst-case scenario. If your child gets bitten or develops a rash, if you’re not around, giving them the know-how to help themselves until a teacher or someone else will make a significant difference.
Self-Defense
We have all grown up with someone trying to push our buttons. Self-defense is not necessarily about having the skills to fight someone off, but it’s about learning how to use that person’s weaknesses against them. It is that classic David and Goliath fable, and you might not necessarily want your children to learn karate or any martial art, but if you can give them the skills to defend themselves by putting an opponent’s weakness against them, this will send a very clear message to the person that they won’t ever try and pick on your child again!
Decision Making
There is a lot to be said for making your own decisions. You can start small by giving them two choices every day, and when you start this, your child will understand the consequences of making a decision. When your child is able to make certain decisions and weigh up the pros and cons, this is going to help them in every area of their light. Rather than having you make the decisions for them, allowing them the luxury to choose something, even if it is the wrong choice, provides them with a very strong lesson.
Finishing Tasks By Themselves
You can always help young children by starting a task with them, such as brushing their teeth, but the finishing of the task is so important because it provides them with that subconscious signal that they can do it themselves, that they finished doing a task by themselves. And when we allow our children to finish things by themselves, this gives them ownership over the task as well as more confidence.
Yes, we can teach them about a 4-wheel drive or supposedly essential things, but if we want our children to get by or ahead in life, we’ve got to give them practical skills.
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