Critical Life Skills

Life skills, which can only be ingrained in childhood, are typically linked to managing and living a better quality of life. They assist children in achieving their goals and living up to their full potential. Any knowledge practiced throughout life can be categorized as a life skill.

At The Confident Communicator, we impart skills enabling our students lead more fruitful and satisfying lives. In each of our classes, one of our end goals is always the same – encourage and empower every student to learn to deal with the obstacles that life will inevitably throw at them! And for this they will need to be armed with some crucial life skills!

What are Life skills?

Life Skills are the behaviors, mindset and attitudes we develop early in life to help us deal with the challenges of everyday existence in an ever changing, evolving world.

Children need life skills to handle peer pressure, bullying, fear, dissatisfaction, failure, etc. to adjust to the accelerating pace and change of modern life.

A child learns many life skills through observation and experience of their parents, other adults and peers.

5 important life skills

1. Creative thinking

One of the simplest and most effective life skills exercises for fostering your child’s creativity is reading. Reading exposes kids to a diversity of thought and contrasting viewpoints. So – get your kids hooked onto reading at a young age! Read to them, read with them, role model the habit of reading. This is the one habit that will set them apart from the rest of their peers. Anecdotal evidence from our surveys shows that 75% of children do not read anything apart from their textbooks.

2. Communication skills

To present and interpret information well we must have good communication skills. Understanding the differences between in-person communication, telephone conversations, text talk, email etiquette and other written communication is an important life skill. Lastly, it’s always a good idea to develop a strong command over the primary language of communication.

3. Leadership Skills

The backgrounds of leaders vary. You’ll observe that some leaders are cool, calm and collected, while others may have a more commanding presence.

Every child has the potential to be a leader. As parents, you can shape your child’s behavior and prepare them for a bright future. By collaborating with them and developing their abilities, you can assist them in fulfilling their leadership potential.

5 Tips to develop leadership skills

• Develop communication skills
• Celebrate their innate uniqueness
• Develop strong integrity and accountability
• Have a positive mindset
• Every great leader in history has been a reader.

4. Active listening

Active listening – is listening in order to understand and not just to respond. It involves listening carefully with complete focus, then repeating the information back to ensure you have understood them correctly.

Strong listening skills help your children build strong relationships and bonds with others. It helps them be focused and more empathetic. It promotes mindfulness and respect – which the speaker will then be more likely to appreciate and return.

5. Decision-Making

Every youngster needs to start learning how to make decisions at an early age. The best result is achieved by the process of selecting the most appropriate option from a range of options.

Decision-making abilities have a significant impact on a child’s personality and relationships. Children who are allowed to make their own decisions grow up to be more independent and responsible. Involve your children in decisions from a young age. Give them food, toys, play choices. Choices in decorating their space or room. Learning to make decisions and face consequences of such decisions helps kids become independent and confident adults.

Conclusion

Indian Parenting has evolved over the past few generations. Many families have moved from a rural to urban landscape. Family dynamics have changed – earlier joint families were common, larger family size, more siblings, growing up around multiple adults and cousins was the norm. Today, at least in the cities and towns, we find more nuclear families with 2 working parents trying to balance child rearing and work.

Ambitions of parents and children to work as entrepreneurs or in multinational organizations has necessitated the shift from focusing on just academic excellence to developing essential life/soft skills.

Deepma Jadeja

Deepma is a co-founder and trainer at The Confident Communicator, and is having the time of her life empowering children, teenagers, women, corporate executives, friends and family live their best life. She helps people become effective in the art and science of communication, build their self esteem, and conquer their deepest fears. She conducts training programs in Communication Skills, Leadership and Assertiveness for young adults and corporates, and has co-developed several products in line with the Company’s mission of Empowerment. "Our kids are grappling with the pressures of social media, stalking and seeking instant gratification, and it is our duty to help them rise above these influences and empower them to build positive self worth, and resilience."