Being an adult, it may be hard to think back on your childhood and remember exactly when and where you were taught life skills. Was it in school or at home? Besides the major items like walking and talking, many parents forget that most life lessons begin at home. Or at the very least, school will instill further skills into children as they’re teaching. But this may or may not be the case, and it’s a good idea to watch your children’s social skills for cues on what they may need refreshers on.
Conversation Skills
Beyond popular belief, schools don’t really teach any conversation skills. Of course, kids may develop and hone these skills while answering and participating in class, but there are many exceptions to this rule. For instance, if your child is shy or afraid of answering for fear of not having the right answer, this may make them lose some conversation skills in the interim. It’s important to keep up the conversations at home and see where your children stand on being able to emote and state their thoughts on topics. You may need to build up what skills they already have and reinforce that conversational tone as they age.
Handling Money
Children are taught math skills of course, but when it comes to exchanging money in paper and coins, kids are not taught this in school. That’s where you come in! You can start early with children, teaching them some of the basics of the paper money. As they age, you can introduce coins and basic handling of monies. Giving change and tips can be the next lesson, and you can even reward them with some of the bills! Once the basics of money are covered and your children are a little older, you can start introducing the lessons of saving, personal finances, and investing.
Technology
It may be hard for most children to think of a world without tablets, TVs, and smart phones, but we can all assure them that yes, this world without technology existed. It’s also important to teach them what to do in cases where technology fails. Have they ever experienced a power outage and what to do? Have they seen a traditional clock yet or learned how to read it? This is a great time to start their learning on what to do when there’s no glow of technology.
The list of topics not taught in school is a lot longer than you think. As you begin to notice what your children are learning and not, you can start to formulate a learning path to get them set with the social and worldly skills they need to succeed in the future.
Katie Kyzivat