Five Life Skills All Primary Year School Students Need to Develop
The top international schools in Gurgaon following the IB programmes in academic curriculums believe that children cannot learn everything from the text books. Certain skills that they will use all through their life must be inculcated in them early and both teachers and parents have special roles to play here.
While the teachers can train them on these abilities by formally assigning DIY projects, parents can be the supervisors when the children practise them at home.
Five of these crucial life skills that children in the group of 4 to 12 years must learn are:
- Cooking
Meal preparation is something that your children will do throughout their lives. They must learn the basics of cooking and mixing ingredients by making simple things such as sandwiches, salads, instant noodles, coffee and lemonade.
If they are too young to be left alone with gas stoves and items such as sharp knife, parents must be around them or ask them for help in fixing daily meals. By practising cooking skills children also learn about nutrition and benefits of healthy diet.
- First-Aid
Basic medical skills are not merely about saving lives – they also help children to understand different dangers and develop the abilities to help people and animals who may be injured or unwell. They can also take care of their own wounds if they get hurt while playing.
You can train them for first-aid activities such as treatment of cuts and bruises, burns and insect bites.
Teachers of IB schools in Gurgaon can assign their students craft activities that require them to a build a first-aid box containing kit such as cotton, bandage, antiseptic liquid and cream, pain-relief spray and other necessary items for immediate medical help.
- Money Management
Budgeting and money management are things that even adults have trouble with. This is why it is important to teach children the value of finance and thrift early in life. They must understand how to spend their pocket money wisely, and how to save for a rainy day. They must also know that making purchases by entering debit and credit card numbers online is not a free process – it involves real money just like the hard cash we pay at other shops.
By teaching money management skills to your children, you can make them more responsible by the time they start earning on their own.
Teachers too can play a role here with assignments that require children to show how they saved money through comparison shopping and by refraining from impulsive purchases.
- House Cleaning and Maintenance
Although most of the children studying in an IGCSE School Gurugram or other international schools are from affluent families who have househelp for daily chores, they must value dignity of labour.
As a parent you should teach your children to keep the house clean and avoid cluttering their room. They can also help you at dusting, cleaning the dishes, watering the plants and other household errands. By practising such skills they will become more independent in life while also understanding the need for cleanliness.
- Laundry
A house that has school-going children has a lot of laundry. Washing and drying of clothes becomes a regular activity. Kids too must learn how to wash, dry, and fold clothes.
By involving your child in the laundry process you will also help him understand different textures of clothes and how to sort them by colour before washing. You can train them on the operation of washing machine and the amount of detergent to be put for a certain number of clothes.
When squeezed clothes come out of the machine, they can practise hanging them out for further drying and then store the clean clothes in wardrobes.
No matter how much you love them, caring for children is not about fulfilling all their wishes blindly. You must make them responsible and string enough to face any challenge in life – at a time when you will not be around to guide them. This is why it is important to develop such skills.
