10 Essential Life Skills You Must Teach Your Children

In today’s world, raising children is beyond ensuring they are excellent in their academics. Beyond academics, you must teach them essential life skills to help them navigate life’s complexities confidently. I’m referring to skills that help them handle problems, responsibilities, finances, and relationships effectively.

You need to teach your children these skills for two reasons: the present and the future. For the present, imagine how beautiful it would be if they could communicate their feelings effectively and listen actively. Just imagine if your children have basic home management skills and can put themselves in other people’s shoes. They also need these life skills in the future to become responsible adults who can navigate the intricacies of life confidently.

The truth is that we are all products of our upbringings. Many of the life skills we have now are products of our backgrounds. Even though we had to learn more skills at some point, we can’t remove the place of our foundation. Sometimes, many young adults turn out irresponsible because of the negligence of these life skills; hence, the need to explore them.

In this article, we’ll examine these 10 essential life skills and practical ways to teach your children.

1. Communication Skills:

Strong communication skills are the basis of good friendships, career success, successful marriages, etc. The ability to communicate your thoughts, ideas, and feelings effectively in any situation is one of the best gifts you can teach your children. What are some of the things you can do to help your children develop good communication skills?

• Teach verbal skills: In some families, children don’t have freedom of expression. They are always afraid to express themselves because they know they will be shunned, judged, or even punished. You shouldn’t train your children this way. Encourage them to express their thoughts and needs clearly. You can have one-on-one discussions, or family discussions with them. Ensure your child does not feel shy or uncomfortable when speaking to people of different temperaments.
• Non-verbal cues: Help your children understand the importance of non-verbal cues like body language, tone, and eye contact. For example, when speaking, teach your children the importance of hand gestures in demonstrating their spoken words effectively. Help them see that speaking without hand gestures makes their communication less engaging and expressive. You can have role-playing sessions at home to introduce these cues to them.
• Active listening: This is another vital aspect of communication. Many people only learn how to speak but don’t learn how to listen. Show them how to genuinely listen to people and not wait for their turn to talk. Show them how to listen intently, rephrase words to understand the context, and establish eye contact with people. See more on active listening here.

2. Emotional Intelligence:

Emotional intelligence is understanding and managing your emotions while empathizing with others. Many adults have petty fights that escalate into bigger fights because of a lack of emotional intelligence. But it all starts from their foundation: childhood. This is one of the most essential life skills you must teach your children because they will interact with people all the days of their lives. The following are some ways you can teach your children emotional intelligence.

• Self-awareness: A quote by the Chinese philosopher and writer, Lao Tzu, brilliantly reads, “He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty.” You need to teach your children about the importance of knowing themselves. In the context of emotional intelligence, teach them to consciously recognize and name the emotions they feel in every situation. Are they happy, sad, surprised, or anxious? Recognizing their feelings helps them to keep themselves in check. For example, if your child realizes he is angry, he needs to step back and understand why he is feeling that emotion. Is it because of what his friend said, or because he couldn’t get a good score on his test?
• Empathy: Help them see and consider other people’s perspectives. Ask them, “How do you think your friend felt after your statement?” Or “If you were in his shoes, how would you feel?”
• Coping mechanisms: Teach them effective coping mechanisms to handle different life situations. Some examples of coping mechanisms are deep breathing, meditation, journaling, exercise, reading a book, taking a bath, etc.

More on Emotional Intelligence here.

3. Financial Literacy:

Surveys conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank often highlight the positive correlation between financial education received in childhood and responsible financial practices in childhood. Children who learn about money early will grow into financially responsible adults. What are some of the ways you can teach your children financial literacy?

• Saving: Teach your children the habit of saving in a bank account or piggy bank. It could be for short-term goals like toys, gifts, etc.
• Budgeting: You can show them how to plan their expenses using their pocket money. You can work with them to create a simple budget for expenses, savings, and giving.
• Earning: Encourage your child to get into entrepreneurship early. It doesn’t have to be something big. It could be selling paper crafts, woven bags, running small errands for a fee, etc. 

More on teaching financial literacy here.

4. Problem-Solving Skills:

Problem-solving is one of the essential life skills you must teach your children. As you know, we all face problems in life. But you can be the hero (by solving the problem) or the victim (allowing the problem to overcome you). To help your children live a good life, you must teach them problem-solving skills that help them think critically and creatively. Here are some ways to teach them problem-solving skills:

• Scenario practice: Present simple problems and discuss possible solutions. For example, “What would you do if your friend hurled abusive words at you?”
• Encourage questions: From my experience, children who ask questions are more likely to solve problems faster than those who don’t. Encourage your children to ask questions. Most of the time, their questions will contain these two elements: “why” and “how.”
• Learn through failure: Even if they fail, help them see the lessons instead of labeling them as failures. While the outcome is important, celebrate their efforts rather than outcomes. This allows them to see mistakes as opportunities to grow.

5. Time Management:

Time management helps children handle responsibilities effectively. Time management is a key skill you should drill into your children. Here are some ways you can help them build time management skills:

• Daily routines: Create a visual schedule that contains their routine for the day, including homework, playtime, and bedtime.
• Set priorities: Teach how to focus on important tasks before concentrating on other activities. For example, they must complete their homework before playing.
• Timers and rewards: Let’s say your child is doing his assignment. You can set a timer and if your child completes his assignment before the timer rings, you can give him a small reward. 

6. Healthy Living Habits:

Since your children are under your care, teaching them how to eat and live healthily is much easier. Follow the tips below to teach your children healthy living habits.

• Nutrition: As they grow, teach them about balanced meals. Also, when you go grocery shopping, let them pick fruits and veggies.
• Exercise: Add exercise to your family time. It could be dancing exercises, family hikes, etc. Exercise is important for them to grow well and live healthy.
• Sleep hygiene: Create bedtime routines so they can rest well. I know someone who has a specific time he sleeps and wakes up because of his childhood upbringing.

7. Basic Home Management Skills:

To raise self-sufficient adults, one of the essential life skills you must teach them is basic home management skills. Home management skills are skills expected of every adult, whether young or old.

• Cooking: You can start with tasks like boiling eggs, making sandwiches, cooking noodles, boiling rice, etc. After they have mastered these basic things, you can involve them in full meal preparation.
• Cleaning: Give them chores that are appropriate for their age. These tasks include sweeping, tidying their room, doing the dishes, etc.
• Laundry: Teach them how to sort their clothes by colors (whites, lights, and darks), fabric type (delicates and heavy fabrics), and level of dirtiness. Teach them how to use the washing machine too.

8. Social Skills and Manners:

Social skills and manners are crucial to making connections with people and building valuable relationships with them. Here are some of the things you can teach your children:

• Politeness: Teach your children these five magic words: “please,” “excuse me,” “sorry,” “thank you,” and “pardon me.” When they get acquainted with these words, they will be polite.
• Conflict resolution: As your children relate to other people, disagreements and conflicts will arise. You should teach your children how to handle such disagreements. You can do role-play sessions where they find practical solutions to those real-life situations.
• Networking: As they go out, help them develop confidence by letting them introduce themselves to new people and participating in group activities.

9. Resilience and Adaptability:

One thing about life is that it is unpredictable. Zig Ziglar once said, “Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.” Why? Anything can happen. To sail through life’s storm, you have to be resilient and know how to adapt to situations. Here are some ways you can teach your children how to do that:

• Celebrate effort: As earlier mentioned, focus on the efforts rather than the outcome. Praise them for trying, even when they fail. It motivates them to try again.
• Model adaptability: Share your stories and experiences of adjusting to unexpected changes. But beyond what you tell them, ensure you model how they should adapt to situations with your response to situations.

10. Digital Literacy and Online Safety:

We are in a digital age. Yes, the media is highly contaminated these days. However, keeping your children away from the media completely is not the solution. Teach your children how to navigate technology wisely. Here are some ways to do that:

• Set up a family media plan: Create a plan for how your family will use technology devices purposefully.
• Basics: Teach them how to navigate the different types of search engines, especially Google. Also, teach them how to use messaging apps and other platforms responsibly.
• Online safety: Explain why privacy is important and why they should avoid strangers online. You should also teach them how to recognize scammers online.
• Limit screen time: They must have a limited screen time. For example, screen time ends at 10 pm. Also, their use of the screen (laptop, phone, iPad, etc.) should be supervised, so they won’t engage in things they are not supposed to. Lastly, if they exceed the time limit, they should bear the consequences.

Conclusion

This article explored 10 essential life skills you must teach your children. When you teach your children these skills, you are not only making them responsible now but also preparing them to become responsible adults. These essential life skills will help them create meaningful connections, navigate challenges, and lead fulfilling lives. Start integrating these skills into your children’s everyday activities and watch them grow into responsible adults. Did you learn a valuable lesson? Share with every other parent you know.