Learning life skills through everyday chores.

As I look at my little man shooting like a tree and hoping around the house like a money, I wonder how soon time flies. I ponder of the little everyday life skills and tricks that he has picked as a little human! Seldom, some of these skills amaze and yet, there are some skills that I continuously get him to better at. The kids of this generation are fantabulous at picking up technology. It becomes imperative for us as parents to teach them more than a thing or two about basic everyday life skills.

As a parent it becomes all the more relevant to teach my little man about everyday life skills. I strongly believe that it’s about time we shed all inhibitions about gender biases when raising our kids. As a child, I have faced biases from my grandparents as a child and it often left me fuming! Hence, as a mother to a boy child, I found it vital to teach him about the everyday life skills through the little things we do in our daily lives.

Food related chores help with motor skill development.

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Right from using cut vegetables to paint to sorting of vegetables, it is important for kids to have an early bond with food. I have often got my child to sort beans to help him improve him sorting skills along with tapping on the fine motor skills too. Whenever I use different vegetables to help him paint, I ensure we are using the part of the vegetable that needs to be discarded. This helps me develop his creativity skills and also tap on imaginative skills.

Critical thinking can be developed through pretend play

Often, we consider pretend play as a time out for parents. We are ecstatic when kids pretend play and self-play. However, we must realise that kids are developing critical thinking through the different situations they handle during pretend play.

Reading skills and asking questions help with communication.

Investing in books is great thing. Books help develop great life skills and understanding. Books have answers to everything. It’s amazing how some parents turn to books for answers about everything big and small. Every day personal interaction with children, making them aware about the various people around them, helps them build their social- emotional skills too.

Building connections

Activities like sorting of clothes, toys and other household items, helps kids relate to the connection with things. It is important for kids to learn to draw out patterns between incongruent things as this helps give a meaning to their curiosity.

Solving challenges

We are often worried about the safety of our children, I was too! I soon realised that it is through falling down will my child learn to get up. Hence, I let him climb that bike or do that stunt on the sofa while I was always around to watch him. It is necessary for kids to develop resilience and for that we need to develop the right kind of environment for them. Letting them play in the grass or mud, help them do things on their own and let it all follow with encouragement. Getting kids to help with cooking also gives them a sense of responsibility too!

Self-control can be learnt through organisation

Organisations skills not only help in your personal life, but also helps in your professional life. Simple chores like arranging the bookshelf or putting back their toys helps kids to learn to be organised. It teaches them to focus and also teaches them to do things on their own. Spending quiet time with kids is equally important to help kids keep distraction at bay.

It is vital for our kids to develop these life skills right from when they are young. A lot of other life skills get added to this as they grow older. I do plan to cover other life skills that will help older kids. We are all working towards helping our kids grow into humble, caring and confident beings. Everyday activities are a great resource to teach them about what is relevant and will help them.