9 Essential Life Skills to Teach Your Kids

Guest Post:
Andy Andersen

Integrated Learning Strategies is excited to feature life skills with guest blogger Andy Andersen. While many of the recommendations below are great for children and parents, some accommodations or exceptions may be made for children with learning challenges and learning disabilities. Integrated Learning Strategies (ILS) is a learning and academic center. As a reminder, ILS is not a health care provider and none of our materials or services provide a diagnosis or treatment of a specific condition or learning challenge you may see in your child or student. If you seek a diagnosis or treatment for your child or student, please contact a trained professional who can provide an evaluation of the child.

Every loving parent wants their children to enter adulthood with the skills necessary to navigate the world with confidence. In order to do this, parents must find the proper balance between protecting their kids and teaching them life skills. Unfortunately, many parents end up overprotecting their children during adolescence to the point where their children are unequipped to enter the adult world when the time comes. Other parents simply pass their own lack of life skills onto their kids. While every child needs to be nurtured, it’s just as important that they are allowed to learn through hands-on experience.

Here are 9 essential life skills to teach your kids before they leave the nest:

1. Good Manners

Contrary to what your kids might think, manners are not a thing of the past. It may not be important to kids and their peers, but knowing how to practice good manners when interacting with adults will be an invaluable asset to your children during the years in which they transition from childhood to adulthood. As they grow up, young people are far more likely to get ahead in life if manners have been instilled into them at a young age.

2. Face-to-Face Interaction

With the onset of social media, digital interface, and other online technologies, human interaction becomes increasingly difficult for young people. Though it may seem an impossible uphill battle at times, do whatever you can to make sure your kids grow up knowing how to talk to people face to face. Limit time on electronic devices in the evenings, have a no-phone policy during family dinners, or simply set aside a time where everyone in the family meets to talk family business.

3. Phone Etiquette

In addition to face-to-face interaction and proper manners, teaching your children proper phone etiquette can make a huge difference in their future success as adults. In the professional world, it’s often a person’s ability to successfully navigate a phone conversation that sets them apart from others. Make your children comfortable with talking on the phone early. Help them call their dentist’s office to set up their own dental check-ups, or give them the chance to make a dinner reservation over the phone the next time you go out as a family.

4. Basic Financial Skills

Financial responsibilities can be the single most challenging aspect of adult life that young adults encounter, often because they have never really been taught by their parents how to manage finances. Where it is appropriate, keep your children involved in your finances as they grow up or show them how to keep a budget and manage their own money. Check here for more info on how to teach your kids financial skills.

5. Basic Auto Mechanic Skills

When your kids enter their teenage years and start driving, give them a comprehensive education of car basics; changing the oil, changing the antifreeze, replacing a flat tire, etc. That way they’ll be prepared to handle their first car mishaps when they strike out on their own.

6. Healthy Eating Habits

Your kids are much more likely to eat healthy as adults if you teach them now. Provide healthy meals and snacks for your children, and explain the nutritional value of everything they eat so they are equipped to shop and eat healthy on their own when the time comes.

7. Cooking

Another way to help your child to eat healthy as an adult is to teach them to cook for themselves. As kids grow up and enter college years, acquired cooking skills give them the freedom to continue eating a wide variety of healthy meals and avoid the ramen-and-hot-pocket diet.

8. Adequate Exercise

Whether you’re out of shape, or so busy that you can’t seem to devote enough time to it, consistent exercise is a difficult thing to do. If your children learn from an early age to set aside weekly exercise time, they’re far more likely to overcome the challenges of a busy  schedule, manage time wisely, and continue the habit of exercise well into adulthood.

9. Independence

Living independently comes with time. It’s a concept that should be taught with sensitivity and understanding. But as your child grows, give them ample opportunity to be independent. The more you do this over time, the more likely they’ll be to successfully navigate the world as adults.

Integrated Learning Strategies is a Utah-based center dedicated to helping mainstream children and children with learning challenges achieve academic success. Our services provide kids with non-traditional tutoring programs within the Davis County, Kaysville, Layton, Syracuse, Farmington, and Centerville areas. Areas to find Integrated Learning Strategies include: Reading tutors in Kaysville, Math tutors in Kaysville, Common Core Tutors in Kaysville, Tutors in Utah, Utah Tutoring Programs