Education is about more than memorising facts and figures. It is about developing essential skills and ways of thinking that play key roles in every part of our lives. To help our children succeed in the modern world we can begin with these six essential life skills.
1. Communication
Communicating well means expressing yourself clearly and succinctly in a diplomatic manner. Being able to do this enables children to better express themselves, both in school and at home. Additionally, early childhood is the best time for children to begin learning a foreign language. The modern world is more connected than ever and knowing at least one foreign language has become crucial, especially in the workplace. There are many resources your kids can use, the most practical and convenient being languages apps like Babbel for example, which is especially recommended for students. Exposing your children early to a foreign language gives them a head start in a way that will pay back later in life.
2. Problem-Solving
Training in problem-solving helps a child think critically and come up with creative solutions for complex issues. This is the skill that separates people who simply perform wrote tasks forever with no thought or ambition and those who go on to become important figures and leaders in their fields.
3. Using Tech
Technology has become an essential part of everyday life and everyone’s children will grow up surrounded by devices their parents could never have imagined. Learning to use tech well and responsibility means becoming familiar with how devices in a day-to-day while also practising using them safely. Learning skills like coding also teaches children to understand how technology works on a more fundamental level. Coding for kids better equips them for dealing with whatever is released next.
4. Teamwork
When children go to school, lessons and coursework and traditionally focused around individuals. This stands in contrast to the way that working in any modern industry functions. Every professional environment works on a collaborative basis and in order to succeed, children must learn to play a small part of a much larger whole. Even as our reliance on technology grows every year the importance of social skills also grows to match. This is because the world is growing more and more complex and the best way to succeed within it is to develop specialised skills that can work in tandem with others to create something special.
5. Critical Thinking
The world is growing more complex with each passing day and when our children become adults they are going to have to make many complex decisions based on large volumes of information. By helping our children to develop their critical thinking skills we are teaching them to make smart decisions without becoming overwhelmed. It is important that they learn to ask questions about the information they receive and learn to objectively assess the value of each source of information. This may sound complex but it is as simple as learning to make quick correct choices when playing games and then slowly expanding from there.
6. Empathy
Computers and complex machinery are allowing for greater levels of automation than the world has ever seen before. However, the one thing these machines can never do is truly understand people. Of all of these life skills, empathy is among the most important. Without empathy, people become little better than complex machines. By teaching our children to understand others, we are teaching them to make better decisions that will benefit more people.
Life Skills are Key
Children have an unrivalled capacity for learning and developing these skills early grants them a strong head start in life. The easiest way to do this is through play because when learning is fun it occurs naturally. With all of these skills in hand, our children will be able to go on and become anything they want to be.
