Life Skills for Life by Dana Smith Bader in OTR Blog
“As parents, we want to give our children every tool they need to succeed in life. This week we look at 7 essential life skills everyone needs for success that we can start teaching our children in their early years. We also point out some simple ways parents can teach these skills.”
Today, my eldest daughter, my 21-year old will graduate from the university after countless years of schooling and four hard years of university. As I sit here today and think about the celebration we will have tonight, I wonder, hope, and pray, that she has everything she needs to face the world. I know this is the end of a big chapter in her life, and I know from here on out, she will mostly continue the other chapters independently. As her mother, I always tried to give her the best I could give her to love her, nurture her development, and ensure her success, but, now, all that I gave her and all that she has earned on her own will be put to the test of life. I pray what she has is enough. I pray that she has the essential life skills to make it in life.
According to most child development experts, life skills go hand-in-hand with development and can help your child succeed later in life. In her ground-breaking book, Mind in the Making (http://www.mindinthemaking.org/mitm-vook/mitm-book/), Ellen Galinsky, the chief science officer at the Bezos Family Foundation and senior research advisor for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), identifies seven life skills necessary for success in all aspects of life, including school, relationships, and work, that can be instilled in children from a young age. Educators sometimes describe these skills as “learning to learn” skills, which can be developed through intentional daily activities.
Below, we take a look at these seven life skills and offer some advice on how to develop them in your children:Â Click here to read the complete article
- Focus and Self-Control
- Perspective Taking
- Communication
- Ability to make connections
- Developing critical thinking
- Taking on challenges
- Self-directed and engaged learning.
by Dana Smith Bader, Director, Over The Rainbow Nursery
