5 Major Skills Your Child Needs To Be Successful (Part Two)

Ireyimika Oyegbami

There is a popular saying about how one is never too old to learn new things; nonetheless there are age appropriate skills and values which one ought to learn at the right period.

As parents to young kids, it is important to teach the child basic life skills and values from a very young age to help strengthen their character as they become an adult and begin to interact in the real world.

Here are a few of them: continued from part one

4. Teach them Homemaking skills

Groom your children’s basic homemaking skills from a young age so they would be able to take care of themselves when they grow.

– For example, when you have bread and butter or peanut spread for breakfast let your young ones do the spreading.

– Your child can help sort the clothes into light and dark colours when you do laundry.

– If you have a menu in your home, call your children and together draw up the grocery shopping list from the foods listed and head to the shop together, this activity would also help your child in math as you both check the value and prices of foodstuff.

– Let them join you in mopping the floor as they grow older.
All these activities might not be as appealing as watching cartoons but they need to learn to have a positive outlook on these necessary tasks as they develop into responsible men and women.

5. Money management

Shopping together with your child is a good way to teach your kid to manage money and make decisions.

-Put your kids on a stipend as early as primary school.

-Allow them to make personal financial decisions with small sums from which they might make mistakes but they would also learn.

-Encourage them to divide their allowances and earnings into different categories; let them have about 3 piggy banks, the local kolo would suffice, they should save for the long-term in one, the short-term in the other and the last one for their everyday spending. A transparent piggy bank is advantageous in that your kid is able to see her money as it accumulates.

While childhood is undeniably a fun time, it is also the period to get equipped for adulthood; parents should use the time to prepare these young people for the time when they will be launched into the real world. Adulthood looms near!