Tips to Teach Life Skills

We talk about why kids often miss the “small steps” of everyday tasks, even when they’ve watched us do them for years. We share how clear expectations and intentional teaching build real independence and reduce frustration at home. 

• why observation is not the same as learning a skill 
• how to set a fair expectation by teaching steps and standards 
• book recommendations for life skills and character growth 
• choosing priorities based on family values and your child’s needs 

If you have any questions or need a sounding board, you can message me on Instagram at Be Their Parent. 
If you found this episode helpful, follow, set up automatic downloads, review, and share. I'd appreciate it. 

Transcript

Why Life Skills Need Teaching

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hi, I'm Sheila and I'm here to help you be their parent. Today we're going to talk about life skills for our kids. We often think our kids know what to do in any given situation because they've watched us do these things a hundred times, right? We just think they know exactly what to do, they've seen me do it, they know. However, they're kids and often, you know, we know that they notice a lot of things, right? They'll point out your gray hair or whatever, but the little nuances of things of how to do us something, they often miss. So we need to be aware of this and know that if there's something we want them to do that's going to meet a certain level of expectation on our part, then we need to teach them how to do it so it can meet that expectation. Otherwise, it's not fair to get frustrated or angry with them if they can't quite do it.

Weekly Friday Life Skills Videos

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Now, recently I've gotten into the routine that I post a video every Friday that highlights something that you may want to do to introduce one of these things, whatever it may be, taking care of something in the house, something that's a personal responsibility thing. Any of those items, um, I've been doing those on Fridays on in just about any social media you can find me on with for Be Their Parent. So if you don't follow me on a social media, follow Be Their Parent, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook, I believe. So you can find me there. Um, and now some of these things are just from life experience of from when I was a kid and what my parents taught me. And then some of it are things I've taught my own kids. And then there are some things that I'm going over that I kind of wished I would have taught my kids. Um, it would have gone a long way in helping them to be even more successful as adults. So follow along and I will share

Two Books To Guide You

SPEAKER_00 2:06

some more. Now, if this is something that you are wanting some more perspective on, or you're like curious about what other categories might I look for that are some things I need to teach my kids, I do have a couple of book suggestions. Now, both of these I will put a link to in my link tree, and I will link that in the show notes for today. So if you want to find those, you sure can. Now, the first one is called Life Skills for Kids. It's by Christine Field. Now, it is a Christian-based book. I'm just going to tell you that now, going in so that it doesn't catch you off guard if you're interested, but you're not a Christ follower. That's okay. There are a lot of other things in it that would still be worthwhile of looking into. Um, it's everything from how to get along with others to fixing and maintaining things in your home, how to handle money, organizing things, even how to go about making decisions. Now, I read this book years ago when my kids were little, um, and I haven't read reread it yet. It is on my Kindle, and I'm hoping to get to it soon. Um, but as I do, I will probably take some of the things she suggests and put those into um upcoming videos. And then the other book I would highly recommend is called The Essential 55. It's written by Ron Clark, who is a well-known educator. You probably have heard of him. Um, he is a principal of a school that he started in Atlanta, Georgia. Um, I really enjoyed this book because it gives a lot of things that are, yes, a lot of them are related to the classroom. I I will absolutely give you that. But a lot of it is based in respecting others and personal responsibility. And so even if your kids aren't quite in school yet, or maybe they're almost out of school, it would still be worth the read just because it's really talking about how to treat each other kindly and with respect. And honestly, in this culture and how people are around here in our family, we call them keyboard warriors, where they will just attack people that they don't even know online. Um, respect would go a long way. And I think there's a lot of adults that would benefit from this book, even if we're not turning in homework or grading each other's papers. Um, there's a lot of other things that are embedded in this book that would be a really good read for many of us.

Pick Priorities And Set Expectations

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Now, obviously, both of these books, you're not going to be able to do everything in them, even if you only picked one. There's no way you're going to be able to get it all covered. But you can pick and choose the things that are priorities to you, the things that really matter to you and your family, or maybe it's the areas that you see in your kid that you see that maybe they need to have some growth in. Um, but the bottom line is you just need to be intentional with what you're teaching your kids. They're not just going to catch it just by watching. They really need you to lay it out and totally um give it a name of what the expectations are so that they know what it is you're after and what it is you expect from them.

Encouragement And How To Connect

SPEAKER_00 5:33

And you're doing a great job with your kids. You're finding ways to help them grow and become more independent. You're giving them the direction that they need, but allowing room for them to stretch their wings and try new things. All of this is good, and it's what your child needs to feel confident as they take on the world. If you have any questions or need a sounding board, you can message me on Instagram at BeThereParent. If you found this episode helpful, follow, set up automatic downloads, review, and share. I'd appreciate it.