Education at the school level and beyond is aimed at making children literate and
helping them acquire knowledge of subjects that become more and more
specialized as they grow older. But does this kind of education prepare children
for the difficult journey of adulthood? It is very common for the current
generation to not know how to cook, handle finances, run household errands and
so on even well into their 20's. They stay dependent on their parents as young
adults, significantly impacting their self-esteem and confidence in themselves. It
has become a common running joke in online forums to reply with
“Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell” when asked what important
information school has imparted! So why is it important to start teaching
children life skills while they are still young?
Encourages harmful co-dependency
The absence of life skills in children prevents them from becoming self-
sufficient adults and further affects their ability to start building a family
or running a household on their own. These are skills that can be learnt
only by actual practice, so cannot be honed overnight.
Teaches important inter-personal skills
Life skills also include communication and learning to interact with
people not within one’s immediate circles. This will become crucial when
one leaves the sheltered bubble of one’s home and ventures into the adult
workplace where it becomes important to deal with people from all walks
of life and holding different positions. The social and practical skills that
form a part of life skills will stand children in good stead when they work
with others within group projects, and increase their employ ability when
they finally join the workplace.
Makes it easier for working parents
If both parents in a family unit are working, they can be relieved of the
anxiety of not being able to leave their child unsupervised for even short
periods of time if the child can take care of his or her basic needs.
Aids in educational endeavours
Life skills complement the book-oriented theoretical learning. For
example, children who want to become engineers will have to utilize their
own practical instinct for mechanical construction later on to bring their
theoretical knowledge to fruition. That intuition does not come by
learning from a book alone.
Practice makes perfect
Often parents think that children will learn life skills by and by, and their
focus when they are young should be only to study the school syllabus.
However, these skills like any other get better with practice! Start them
young so they can begin work on themselves that much earlier.
Not providing your child with a training in life skills handicaps them in
fundamental ways and the disadvantage of this lack is likely to follow them
into young adulthood. Prepare your child for what lies ahead – the world will
not be as forgiving of their lacks as you.