Life Skills for Children – Prepare Kids for Life

Life Skills for children

Long ago around the second century BC, a text was written—the Panchatantra Tales. These were stories that prepared princes to be just and strong rulers. The tales were spun to impart life skills to royal young ones. These tales were so renowned that they went from India to Europe and the Middle East (known as Kalila-wa-Dimna and Aesop’s fables).

Through the centuries parents have, through various means, prepared children to face the challenges of life—children went to Sunday schools or Moral Science classes.

Schools advocate life skills for children to impart knowledge and strengths so that they can meet various challenges posed by the modern world. Life skills for children are so important that the UN, WHO, UNICEF and other educational organizations are creating training programs and modules for children.

WHO (World Health Organization) has defined ten core life skills –

  1. self- awareness,
  2. empathy,
  3. critical thinking,
  4. creative thinking,
  5. decision making,
  6. problem solving,
  7. effective communication,
  8. interpersonal relationship,
  9. coping with stress, and
  10. coping with emotions.

Examples of Life skills for children

Child development experts, advise that a child should be allowed to make decisions from an early age—this will instill self-confidence and reduce dependency on parents and others.

Many young mothers even ask infants, “Shall we eat banana or cereal?” Many others allow toddlers to choose T-shirts and toys. Nurtured from a young age, children quickly master decision-making skills.

Similarly on communication, if a child is from an young age encouraged to converse and share experiences with his mother then the child will continue to find it easy to share thoughts and experiences with parents as they grow. Life skills are all about living life “right.”

Why life skills for children?

When my granddaughter shared that she was attending a life skills course I was curious as when we were young there was no such course. When I “googgled” it I realized that the world was moving at a fast pace.Schools were crowded and pupils came from various backgrounds.

Life in urban cities presented many temptations—drugs, alcohol, and in many places children as old as ten were drawn to sex leading to early pregnancies and many other problems. Added to these there were threats from terrorists, health problems like AIDS and H1NI fevers, and natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis.

Life skills for children help them make the right choices, stand up to peer pressure, and know how to tackle challenges emotionally as well as physically.

A social worker who worked with troubled children spoke to a group at the local community center and I was alarmed to learn that children sometimes in well-to-do families faced dangers in their own homes—child abuse. In today’s world I realize that children need to prepare for challenges.

Instill Strengths

Every child is different, while some talk, others are quiet. Many children do not cope well in stressful situations and yet others do not communicate with parents when they undergo peer pressure or any trauma. It is important for parents to nurture strengths in a child and help the child overcome weaknesses.

UNICEF, an organization that works with children worldwide, stresses the importance of psycho-social and inter-personal skills and that the choice of training should ideally depend on the situation—urban living, HIV prevention, conflict management or peace education.

Crucial life skills for children should include: Communications and Interpersonal Skills; Decision Making and Critical Thinking Skills; Coping and Self-Management Skills.

Parents need to understand their children and also explore what are ways in which core strengths in a child can be enhanced—through games, team work, training and more. In a global world children need to be able to tackle challenges . . . hence, life skills for children are critical.

Avatar

About the Author

Ahendita is an experienced writer and editor with over 30 years work experience. She has authored books, magazine articles, web content, e-books, and promotional materials.

Leave a Reply