The key life skills parents should teach their child

Is your child emotionally resilient? Are they confident in making decisions independently? Are they able to find constructive ways to deal with stress and disappointment? 

When we think about the education we hope to give our children, the first skills that come to mind are often academic qualities like reading, writing and counting. But perhaps the most important lessons we should be teaching are the practical skills children require to cope with the demands and difficulties of everyday life. 

The development of life skills is essential in ensuring our children receive a holistic education. They enable children to adapt to change and respond positively to life’s challenges through developing tools like problem solving, self-awareness, empathy, communication and critical thinking. 

Children have an incredible capacity to approach everyday dilemmas and responsibilities calmly and independently. However, it’s easy to forget that developing these qualities requires persistent effort from children and parents. Whether your child is reluctant to make their bed in the morning or struggling to control their feelings of stress and anger, it is important to remember that these skills must be fostered in a similar way to academic skills: through consistent practice, positive reinforcement and collaboration between parents, educators and children. Many of these skills take years to master, so it’s vital that we start young.

That’s why we’ve created the Bella Bloom Series to help your child get ahead in developing their skills for life. Applicable to the everyday lives of children, these narratives are centered on the loveable preschooler Bella Bloom, Bella’s colourful talking bird Pepe and her little brother Bay. These videos are specifically designed to target the five fundamental life skill areas identified by the World Health Organisation:

1.    Decision-making and problem solving
2.    Creative thinking and critical thinking
3.    Communication and interpersonal skills
4.    Self-awareness and empathy
5.    Coping with emotions and coping with stress

Learning alongside Bella and her companions, children discover ways of responding maturely and constructively to the new experiences and emotions they will encounter as they grow up. When faced with a problem, children are guided to use the process of elimination to come up with the best possible solution. They are inspired to consider the possible consequences of different ways of behaving, speaking and responding to their own emotions, heightening their sense of personal agency. Here, children are active participants. Visual and musical cues act as prompts that encourage children to directly partake in Bella’s step-by-step process of decision-making, ensuring they are equipped to take these lessons into their own lives. 

Ultimately, this series is about giving children the enduring qualities of independent thinking, interpersonal empathy and communication. Whether your child needs assistance making and keeping friends in the playground, deciding how to communicate their feelings or even in considering whether or not to make their bed in the mornings, these skills will remain vital for years to come, from kindergarten to the HSC and beyond. 

We hope this series will help to develop the next generation of creative and critical thinkers. In the words of cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead: 

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think”

For the price of your daily coffee, give your child indispensable skills for life. Join Schooling Online today!