As parents it’s not uncommon that we have to teach our kids how to do something that we struggle with ourselves. Life skills are no exception!
“I need to teach my child how to manage their time better, but I struggle doing that myself!”
“I want my kids to know how to manage their money well, but it’s not something I’ve mastered myself yet.”
“I’m trying to teach my kids how to manage a household by assigning them chores, but I don’t even do all of the thing I need to do each week.”
So, what do you do when you’re trying to teach your child life skills that you struggle with?
Talk to them about how life skills can improve their life
The main reason we teach our children life skills is to help them improve the quality of their lives, their careers, and their relationships. We want them to develop the skills that they will need to navigate the world and to be able to cope with the many things (both positive and negative) that they will experience. As you begin to teach life skills, talk to them about the importance of these skills and how it can help them once they’ve mastered a few of them.
Talk to them about how to develop life skills
Once you’ve explained why life skills are important, talk about how to go about developing some of them. Let them know that skills take practice and that it may take a while before they master it. This will help to reduce any frustration they may face if they struggle with it.
Be honest about your struggles
It also helps to be honest with your own struggles with mastering life skills. Parents don’t have to be perfect. In fact, by showing your child that even you struggle with some things, it will only highlight the fact that mastering things takes intention and practice. It can also help them feel better when or if they struggle to learn some things. Being honest about your struggles and how they negatively impact your life can also serve as added motivation to work hard to master a variety of life skills.
Master life skills as a family
Finally, view this as an opportunity to finally master some life skills – as a family. There are a lot of life skills that people don’t learn or master until they are adults. This is a chance for you to work alongside your children to learn something that could positively impact your life and your family’s overall wellbeing.
I hope that this helps to encourage you as you get out there and teach your kids the things they need to lead happy lives. If you ever need expert guidance on teaching (or learning) a new life skill), we invite you to join the Skill Trek family. We help teach families over 450 life skills! You can learn more about Skill Trek and how it can help your family on our website.
Until next time!
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