9 basic skills that children should learn

14. 09. 2021
6th international conference of exopolitics, history and spirituality

Children in today's school system are not well prepared for tomorrow's world. As a person who has moved from the corporate sector to the government sector and from there to the ever-changing online world, I know how quickly the world of yesterday becomes irrelevant. I've been trained in the newspaper industry, where we all believed we'd be relevant forever. Today, I think he will soon become obsolete.

Unfortunately, I was educated in the school system, which thought the world would remain essentially the same forever. Only with minor changes in fashion. At school, we acquired a set of skills based on what types of work were most requested in 1980 not in 2000.

And it makes sense, given that no one really can know how life will look like 20 for years. Imagine the world of 1980. Personal computers were still quite young, faxes used to be major communication technologies, and the Internet as we know it today was only a science fiction writer's fantasy like William Gibson.

We had no idea what the world was going to set for us.

And that's the thing: we still do not know it. We never know it. We have never been good at predicting the future. Therefore, raising and educating our children as if we had some idea of ​​the future really was not the smartest idea. How can we prepare our children for a world that is unpredictable and unknown? By learning to know them adapt and deal with change. To be prepared for everything simply by not preparing them for anything specific.

This, however, requires a completely different approach to the upbringing and education of children. It means leaving your old thoughts in front of the door and being able to figure it out again.

We teach kids at home

She has a wonderful and wonderful wife, Eve (yes, I'm a very happy man) and I belong to those who have already been to this task. We teach our children at home. More precisely, we will apprentice (retraining = unschooling). We teach them to teach ourselves without knowing and trying to test it in some way.

True, it's a bit of a wild idea. Most of us who experiment with retraining admit that we do not know all the answers and there is no set of "best practices". But we also know that we learn with our children that something to be ignorant can be a good thing. This will make it possible to come to terms with it without having to rely on established methods that may not be optimal.

In many ways and methods here I will not treat too much. I think they are less important than thoughts themselves. Once you come up with some interesting ideas that you would like to test, you can find an unlimited number of ways to do it. My dictated ways would therefore be too restrictive.

Let's take a look at a useful set of basic skills that I believe children should learn to be best prepared for any future world.

I base them on what I have learned in three different sectors - especially in the world of online business, online publishing, online life ... And more importantly, what I learned about learning and working and living in a world that never stops changing.

1) Children should ask questions

What we want most for our children as students is to be able to learn on their own. Whatever they want to learn anything about. Because if they know this, then we do not need to teach them everything. Whatever they need to learn in the future, they can do it alone. The first step to learning how to learn is to learn to ask questions. Fortunately, children do it naturally. We can only support it. And a great way to do it is to just try to model it. When you encounter something new with your child, give him questions, explore possible answers with him. And if the child does the same - ask you - instead of punishing him, reward him (you might be surprised how many adult children are discouraged from questioning).

2) Teaches children to solve problems

If the child will be able to solve problems, he will be able to do any work. Every new job looks threatening, but in fact it is just another problem to be solved. New skills, new environments, new requirements ... Everything is simply a problem that needs to be mastered. Teach your child to solve problems by modeling simple problems. Then allow it to be very easy to solve by itself. Do not want to solve all of its problems immediately - let him handle it yourself. Let them try different solutions. Then reward such effort. Finally, your child develops confidence in their own abilities. Then there will be nothing that will not succeed.

3) Work on projects together with your child

As an online entrepreneur, I know my work consists of a number of projects. Sometimes related, sometimes small and sometimes large (which are, however, usually grouped from smaller groups). And I also know that since I have already done so much, there is no project I can not think of. This post is a project. Writing a book is a project. Selling a book is another project. Work on projects with your child. Allow him to see how he does it by helping you. Then let him handle more and more things alone. How to gain self-confidence, let him deal more on his own. Early in his teachings, only a few projects will become enthusiastic.

4) Motivate children to test different activities

What drives me are neither goals nor discipline, nor external motivation, nor reward, but interest. When I'm so excited that I can not stop thinking about it, I will inevitably dive into it completely, most of the time I will finish the project and work on it. Help your child find things that interest him. It means testing lots of things and finding the ones that are most exciting, which will really help you enjoy it. Do not dissuade him from any interest. Encourage him. Also, do not take all the fun out of any activity. But you can also do something useful for her.

5) Build your child's independence

Children should be gradually taught how to stand on their own feet. Of course a little bit. Slowly encourage them to take action independently. Show them how to do something, model it, help with it, and then help less and less and let them do some of their own mistakes. Put trust in yourself by experiencing a lot of little successes and solving some of your mistakes. Once they learn how to be independent, they realize they do not need their teachers, parents or boss to advise them what to do. They can drive themselves and be free. They will be able to find the direction they need to go in order to go in their own direction.

6) Show your child happiness even in the simplest of things

Too many of us parents pamper their children, keep them on a leash and bind their happiness to their presence. When a child grows up, he suddenly does not know how to be happy. Immediately he has to get to his friend or girlfriend or to his friends. If they fail, they will try to find happiness in other external affairs - shopping, food, video games, the Internet. But when a child, from a very early age, learns that he can be happy himself, can play and read and imagine, he gets one of the most valuable skills that exists. Allow your children to be alone by now. Give them privacy. Define some time (for example, in the evening), when they have time for both parents and children.

7) Show children compassion and empathy

One of the most important skills at all. We have to cultivate it so we can work together with others. To care for other people than ourselves. In order to be happy by making others happy too. The key is to set an example. Be sympathetic to all and everything in all circumstances. Even your children. Show them empathy. Ask them how they think other people can feel, and think about it aloud. If you can, on any occasion, show how to alleviate the suffering of others. How others, with the help of little favors, make you happier. And how, in return, can make you happier as a human.

8) Teach children to be tolerant to others

Too often we grow up in isolated areas where people are mostly the same (at least in appearance). When we come into contact with people who are different, it can be unpleasant, surprising and fear-inducing. Expose your children to people of all kinds - different races, sexual orientation and different mental states. Show them that being different is not just fine but it should even be glorified because it's just the variety that makes life so beautiful.

9) Kids and Changes - Learn to deal with them ...

I believe that as our children grow and how the world is constantly transforming, able to accept change, to cope with it, and to orientate itself in its current will be a great competitive advantage. It's a skill that I'm still learning myself, but I find it greatly helping me. Especially compared to those who resist change, they are afraid of them and set goals and plans that they are trying to hold firmly at all costs. Instead, I adapt to a changing environment. Striking is much less useful in such an environment than, for example, flexibility, fluidity and adaptability.

Again, modeling situations to practice this skill is important for your child. Show them that changes are natural that one can adapt to them and get opportunities that have not been before. Life is an adventure. Things are going to be wrong sometimes, they will fall differently than we expected, and destroy any plans - but that's just exciting.

We can not give our children a set of things to learn, show them a career they want to prepare for when we do not know what the future will bring. But we can prepare them to adapt to anything. And for such 20 years let us thank.

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