Some Basic Life Skills to Teach Your Kids during Quarantine

Life is full of uncertainties. We can hardly assume what is coming beforehand. As a parent, it would be wise to start preparing our kids to learn some life skills so they can face the challenges life throws upon them. You may think that teaching kids life-skills can demand a considerable amount of time, effort, and patience. But why don’t you utilize the quarantine period for this endeavor? If your kids are taught some life-skills besides homeschooling, it will keep those young minds engaged in minimizing their boredom. Here goes some basic life skills to teach your children during Coronavirus home quarantine. 

Time Management:

Every day we wake up with a new opportunity to restart our life. To make the best out of each day, it is essential to know how to manage the time. Your kid may know how to watch the clock for telling time but don't necessarily know the techniques of time measurement. 

You can start by teaching your kid to organize a day on the basis of priorities, such as starting the day with brushing their teeth. You can set a ‘Timer’ to schedule a definitive amount of time to complete a task, like taking shower, putting on clothes/shoes, having breakfast, watching TV, cleaning a room, playing with toys, etc. Learning a verbal countdown can make your kid feel the flow of time. 

However, beware of over-scheduling the life of your kid or teaching them to live by the continually ticking clock. Rather you can make it fun by setting rewards for completion of tasks on time. The more enjoyable you make time management for your kids, the more effective it will be to make them understand the significance and proficiency of time management.

Managing Money

Depending on age, you can teach your kid the value and importance of money. It will make them win the war against money in later life. Saving coins and money in a clear jar can be a nice start. It would be easier for the kids to learn money budgeting if they can understand that nothing is free in this world except parents’ love. 

However, lecturing can hardly make a kid understand the money matters. Instead, you can apply some simple tricks. For instance, while buying a toy for your kid, encourage him to spend some cash from his own savings. You can also teach your kid about opportunity cost, in a way that if he gets the toy, he misses the chance to buy his favorite chocolate box. 

When a kid gets free money from parents they may take it for granted. So you can give them money in the guise of rewards for completion of small tasks like organizing the bookshelf, watering plants, etc. Remember, your kids are observing your money spending behavior. Try to set a good example for them regarding how to spend money wisely being neither spendthrift nor parsimonious.

Doing Household Chores: 

To make your kid learn to respect every job whether small or big, you can engage them in household tasks. Considering the age of the kid, you can teach it doing simple chores like separating dirty laundry, ironing clothes, washing dishes, cleaning a room, sewing Buttons, making breakfast, gardening, etc. Learning how to do these tasks will not only make your kid grow up as a self-dependent individual but also enable him to handle situations skilfully in the moment of necessity.

However, don’t pressurize your kid to undertake any job. Alternatively, you can teach the kid doing household chores in the way of asking for a helping hand. To make the kid feel proud of his ability to do the task, you can follow some innovative techniques like setting challenges or offering some incentives. For instance, if your kid can do the dishes, you will cook his favorite food, etc. Not to mention, rethink the associated safety risk of your kid before teaching him a bit tough chores, like sewing, cooking, etc.

Communication Skills

Proficient communication skills are the doorway to success in both personal and professional life. It behooves upon the parents to start training a kid with good communication skills from childhood. Kids with poor interaction skills can hardly share their problems with near ones and tend to suffer from anxiety, frustration, or aggravated mental health issues. Developing personal interaction skills is considered a healthy social-emotional ability. It will make your kid able to understand, interact, and communicate with people more effectively within and beyond the family. 

Your kid needs to be taught some life-skills like talking on points, perspective-talking, smart handling to criticism/ mocking, etc. You can set a topic and ask the kid to make a speech on it. You can also encourage your kid to judge an issue from a different viewpoint. Such small but encouraging initiatives can help your kid build up the ability of powerful communication. Reading the social cues, listening to other people’s voices, and making proper responses can make your kid smart enough to face the competitive world waiting outside the home.  

Also read: How to Keep Your Children Occupied during Coronavirus Quarantine.

Safety Skills: 

Though accidents happen accidentally, precautions can minimize the level of risk. During the quarantine, you get the opportunity to teach your kid about basic life-saving skills. You can help your young kid to memorize its name, your home address, and phone number. It will help the kid return home safe, if it gets lost, unfortunately. While playing kids often get hurt, which might cause pain or blood loss. To prevent such mishaps you can train your kid how to use the first aid box. 

Also read: Online Resources for Homeschooling Children during Quarantine

In our daily life, kids might need to deal with some essential tools, like nail cutters, kitchen knives, matches, gardening tools, etc. Learning the safe applications of these tools would not only make your kid capable of diverse life-skills but also assure their safety. You can also organize a fire drill at home to teach your kid what to do if a flame initiates any corner of the house. Instead of getting worried or hiding inside home, teach your kid to leave the home instantly and call the fire service people as soon as possible. What is more? You can train your kid to ask for help if any unwanted incident happens when they are home alone. Teach them how to call the police, family members, or neighbors considering the gravity of the incidence.