Have You Taught Your Kids These Life Skills?

When you’re raising children, the things that you don’t do are often as important as the things that you do. Letting them be independent as much as possible is vital, otherwise, they’ll become too reliant on you and when it comes time for them to move out they’ll struggle with even the most basic of tasks. Before you give them that independence, you need to teach them the life skills that they need to be self-sufficient so they’re completely prepared for adult life. If you don’t teach your kids these skills before it’s too late, you’ll end up cooking their meals well into their adult life.

Money Management

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Unless you want a phone call every month asking you for money, you need to teach your kids how to handle their finances. You can start teaching them money management from a very young age by introducing them to small amounts of cash. Giving them a little bit of pocket money every week and letting them do what they like with it will soon teach them the importance of restraint. For the first few weeks, they’ll likely spend it all straight away but after a couple of weeks, they’ll realize that there are things that they want later on in the week. It’s only a simple method but that attitude will carry on into their later life.

Fixing Things

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Being able to fix things is a great life skill that will save your kids lots of money in future. Whenever you’re doing any DIY around the house, get them to help out with it. Even when they’re very small, you can let them watch from a safe distance and as they get older, get them more involved. Being able to repair clothes is another great skill. If they end up buying a new pair of trousers every time they lose a button, the costs will soon add up. Getting them a great sewing machine and teaching them to use it will stand them in good stead later in life. There are plenty of top children models that are smaller and have lower speeds so children can learn to use them easier than they would a full sized adult model. Clothes are one of the biggest child care expenses because they grow out of them so quickly and they’re always getting ripped. If your child can alter or fix their own clothes, you can get more use out of the clothes while also teaching them a valuable skill.

Cooking

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Cooking is one of the most basic life skills but it’s baffling how many people simply can’t do it. If you cook all of your kid’s meals right up until they leave home, they’ll move into their own place without knowing how to even boil an egg. Teaching kids to cook is easy and it’s a great family activity to do together. If they don’t have cooking skills, they’re likely to sustain themselves on microwave meals and oven chips, but if you teach them to cook properly they’ll adopt healthier life habits.

Nobody wants an adult child that is still completely reliant on them, so teach them these skills now before it’s too late.