Summer is a Great Time to Teach LIFE SKILLS
So many kids are graduating from high school, and many are heading off to college, without basic life skills. Rather than blame the schools, set up a plan to give your kids life skills this summer. You can teach them yourself or collaborate with other families to combine resources and talent.
Here are 6 easy tips to get your kids on board to learn these life skills now, so they’ll survive in the world without you when they become adults.
#1: Banking
Open a savings account for your child today. Have them deposit money earned doing chores or odd jobs. Give them the opportunity to learn how to save money and watch their little nest egg grow. When bank statements arrive, show them how to read them and encourage the kids to save birthday and holiday cash in their own bank accounts. For tweens and teens, set up a checking account with a debit card so they can learn to manage their expenses. Give them funds for clothes and school supplies so they learn how to shop for deals and make smart purchases.
#2: Cooking
Have your child prepare one meal for the family each week. You can start them as young as 5 years old, and they’ll love it. Show them how to search for recipes online and prepare a grocery list of ingredients they’ll need for their meal. Start with simple meals like roast chicken, baked potato, and carrot sticks. Then help them select an easy recipe for one of their favorite meals. Even if they make the same meal each week, they’ll be proud of themselves for having the wherewithal to serve dinner to the entire family.
#3: Cleaning
Even if you have a fulltime housekeeper, make your children clean their own rooms. Learning how to dust, vacuum, and change sheets is something that everyone will need to do. Besides, they’ll appreciate a clean house and actually notice the difference when they start cleaning on their own. Create a schedule for weekly cleaning to teach them the discipline of doing regular chores.
#4: Sewing
When high schools stopped offering home economics classes a few decades ago, we created a generation of young people who can’t sew buttons, fix zippers, or hem pants. I’ve seen kids duct tape hemlines rather than sew them. Seriously. Learning how to thread a sewing machine, cut patterns, and follow sewing instructions is empowering. Even if they might not be the next Vera Wang, just knowing how to bring in or hem pants is a skill they’ll be able to use forever.
#5: Building
I remember when my friend called me frantically looking for a plumber because her surgeon husband tried to fix a leaking toilet and water was flooding her bathroom. Where does one learn how to fix toilets? Give your child the opportunity to be handy. How? Have your child intern or work with a building contractor one summer. They’ll learn all about electrical wiring, plumbing, and framing, and they’ll learn how to use power tools. Teens could build tiny houses where they learn all the skills to build a house but on a very small scale. I’ll blog about my 17-year old student who just started building a tiny house last week.
For younger kids, I’ve written curriculum for How Things Work that Merit Academy 4th graders took for one year. They took apart TV sets, microwaves, sewing machines, computers, and more. By the end of the year they were curious about how everything works!
#6: Food
Have your kids start a veggie garden this summer. Buy plants in 4” pots and transplant them into larger pots or a garden bed. Teach them about the nutrients that plants need and have them weed and water their gardens every day. As they grow their own veggies, celebrate by having salad parties. Even picky eaters try veggies that they grow themselves. Order fruit trees now and plant them in the fall. Harvesting fresh fruit is a glorious experience.
Teaching your children life skills can be fun. Lay out your long-term plans to make sure they all have the opportunity to be self-sufficient and competent. This may be one of the most important things you do in raising your children.