Why Teach Life Skills?

Teaching life skills to children is obviously one of the key points of family life! Every child benefits not only from ‘nuts and bolts’ skills such as learning to dress, using cutlery and organising belongings, but also from fundamental interpersonal skills that will enable them to get on with others, develop a sense of place in the world and a sense of proportion, to be able to handle conflicts and to be resilient and robust in the face of unexpected (or even expected) challenges.

Schools obviously help with these types of skills, as children are likely to face other children and complexities at school, away from parental guidance far more, and it is important for them to have these skills supported, modelled and scaffolded as they develop in judgement and confidence. However, there are some skills that need to be explicitly addressed in order to develop children who are equipped to manage how to become incredible people in society. This may be academic, or they may be skills of judgement and discernment – either way they need to be identified, taught and practised.

One of my own ‘hobby horses’ is the teaching of basic first aid, allowing children to develop skills to act in a crisis. I believe this allows them to consider others with compassion, to have a sense of their responsibility towards others, to feel confidence by having useable knowledge, and along the way to have a really meaningful education about the essential organs of the body so that they can understand good health and how their body works. The St John Ambulance runs a course for this to use with ‘Young Carers’ and at Notre Dame Preparatory School this is followed by all Year 6 pupils, culminating with certification, and teams put forward to the national competition.

Swimming is another essential life skill, not only for saving lives, but allowing for the pleasure of free movement underwater, something of lifelong benefit to those who become less fit over time for a host of reasons.

One of the other, often overlooked life skills is the ability to view your own self objectively, and without too much seriousness. From this comes the ability to apologise meaningfully and to offer and accept forgiveness with light-heartedness. These are just a few examples.

If you had to seek out a friend in a crisis of your own, a physical or an emotional one, what capital would you look for in terms of skills? Who could you turn to? How can you equip your child to be the person who can help? Real education, both at home and at school, needs to address these questions very carefully.