Life Skills for Kids – Starting in Preschool

1. Confidence to ask for help when confused. (“I’m so lost. Where am I?”)
2. Knowledge of who to ask for help. (Gas stations … the old standby.)
3. Financial literacy. (The number of credit cards offered to college kids is diabolical. The knowledge to refuse them is learned.)
4. Research and recommendation ability. (I had to find a local dentist, preinternet.)
5. Appointment making skills. (I had to make an appointment for the dentist.)
6. How to document ongoing issues for presenting a complete picture to a person of authority. (Ongoing leaks the landlord assured me weren’t happening.)
7. Knowledge of personal care. (I didn’t get sunburned out on the lawn those first few weeks of school because I had been putting on my own sunscreen since I was six.)

Even though so much more can now be done digitally than when I was a kid, that doesn’t mean my daughter shouldn’t know the processes of how life works.

If I do everything by appointment apps, she’ll never understand the life cycle of adulthood.

Family Leadership Tips:

Take your child to the grocery store! Even if you love at-home delivery, make the time to take your child. 

Life Lessons Learned: sequential thinking, planning, personal health, family practices, financial responsibility, community engagement. 

Progression:

• Have your child reach for the items on your list. Explain what the ingredient is and how you will use it. At the end of the outing, have them thank the cashier as you do.
•  Have your child go through the fridge and pantry to see what they think is missing. (They won’t get everything, but they will notice if there’s no milk!) Write it on the list. Have them pull it at the grocery store. Have them help you load the conveyer belt. If it’s a small enough grocery run, use cash in order to let your child more clearly witness the transaction than a credit card purchase allows. Have them thank the cashier as you do.
• Have your child decide on a meal they would like during the week. Go through necessary ingredients with them and let them determine if it’s in the house or needs to be purchased. Have them compile the list of needs and pull items at the grocery store. Have them help you load the conveyer belt and offer the cash. Thank the cashier as your child now knows to do.

Have your child help with home maintenance. No, your five-year-old best not try and fix the garbage disposal. But there are appropriate ways to include them.

Life Lessons Learned: care for their living space, appreciation for the amount of work it takes to keep a space clean, environmental responsibility, critical thinking skills, navigation skills (ever been lost in Home Depot?), asking for the help of professionals (when needed).

Progression:

• Have your child help you with basic maintenance and cleaning around the house. Show them what supplies you use, where they are kept in the house, explain why you keep them out of reach of younger siblings, and then show them how to use the product.

At this age, they want to help. (My daughter loved cleaning the toilets for a time.) They won’t get it perfect. Explain what “clean” means to you and encourage them until they reach a reasonable level. Lots of praise helps here.

• Have your child help you with a more seasonal task, such as gardening, cleaning the gutters, or cleaning the lint vent from the dryer. In addition to weekly cleaning, some things need to be done once or twice a year. Take the opportunity to engage with your child about what needs to happen and why. Walk them through the process with you.

• Have your child help you fix something that’s broken. Again, no one should ever use a child’s small hands to reach into sharp or small places. The thought here is that your child should understand that when the dishwasher starts leaking (for example), you don’t just get a new one.

There are critical thinking skills involved for you both, and maybe your own learning curve to overcome! Let them see how you figure out the problem. Do you call a friend or family member? Do you search YouTube? Do you call a plumber? Set them up with the internal resources to not be afraid of dealing with an issue. As we know, things only get worse if we don’t deal.

There are many reasons to expect that your child would be ready to start working after college. A degree, though, only establishes that they studied a particular field for four years and therefore, presumably, have a greater understanding of said field than someone who did not. 

No matter the age of your child now, you have the opportunity to teach your child in this progressive way, the life skills they will need to be successful.

Learning and practicing these essential life skills—long before they were actually needed—means that when the time comes that they really do need to go the dentist / call the landlord (etc.) they’ll be prepared.

Useful Materials