Parenting: Life Skills and Then Some ...

Confidence-Building and Fun!

What are Some Important Life Skills to Learn During Childhood?

There are so many important things parents teach their children every day. There are also many, many other things that are regularly taught to children by example, with parents as their role models.

Now, take it further! It’s so easy to add in some basic hands-on life skills. They’re very important for girls AND boys to learn while they’re growing up. They’re good for building confidence —not to mention, children really enjoy them.

Children already copy parents and role play every time they pretend. Teaching them life skills helps them experience some grownup things ‘for real’.

Do you want to know what to teach them? Just ask. Children will tell you what they want to learn. Most will be based on what they’ve seen you do and other things you enjoy doing in your free time.

Just be sure to keep your teachings age appropriate. As the child masters one skill set, either increase the difficulty level, or go on to teach them a whole new skill.

The happiest young adults are those that have confidence in several areas so they can comfortably live on their own some day, should they want, or need to.

My daughters loved weaving colorful potholders and they wanted to go a step further and learn how to crochet. It was one of my hobbies, something I loved to do. They watched and wanted to learn to crochet, too. They took to it like ducks to water and they had fun while learning.

I also used to make tiny jointed teddy bears out of oven dried clay. They wanted to learn how to do that, too, so we all sat around the kitchen table and made them together. My oldest daughter, 6 or 7^th grade at the time, also went on to make an adorable jointed elephant!

When they were older, 7^th and 8^th grade, they wanted to learn how to do Scherenschnitte (the art of paper cutting). I had been doing it for years for gifts and selling them at craft shows. Here’s one of the ‘beginner’ designs:

Again, sitting around the kitchen table they learned how. We cut our paper with Exacto knives and when the cuttings were finished, we painted each with coffee to make them look old, then when dry, we framed them. Their creations were beautiful! We each still have some.

Pretty much anything you love to do, they will love, too. Scale it down to an easy level and teach them by working the project along with them. The best thing about teaching life skills? The togetherness it builds —it’s great!

Teach them basic sewing:

How to sew a button on

Patch or sew the bottom of a torn pocket

fix a rip in the seat of their pants

anything else they are ready for with a needle and thread.

Cooking basics:

Toddlers: (small round-tip knives)

spread peanut butter or jelly on Ritz crackers

peanut butter and jelly sandwich

cheese slices on Ritz crackers

put frosting on cupcakes or sugar cookies

Easy roll ups with Tortillas, sliced turkey, sliced chicken, cheese slices

How to use a toaster:

toast with butter and jelly

English muffin with cream cheese or butter

Later: Teens:

Oven and Stove:

baked potato

canned soups

grilled cheese sandwich

scrambled eggs

sunny side up eggs

cheese omelet

mac and cheese

bacon, and sausage links

Later: Teens:

How to do a load of laundry: Washer and Dryer

Make a fruit plate or salad

Later: Grade 1-6:

How to use the microwave:

Easy cheese tortilla: 1 large tortilla, spread with favorite grated cheese, microwave 45 seconds or until cheese is melted, take out and roll up, cut in half or thirds.

Something else to think about: Basic cook books make nice birthday or Christmas gifts. There are also scads of interesting and fun aprons to choose from, as gifts for your boys or girls –-aprons are like a status symbol for what they’ve learned to do and they feel proud.

I’ve only scratched the surface with teaching life skills in this post. Children are so fast to learn new things —they love learning and you’ll love teaching. You’ve also given them confidence not to be afraid to learn new things.

You are only limited by your imagination.

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