5 Skills That Help Teach Kids Self-Reliance By Sara Tipton for Ready Nutrition
Teaching critical life skills to kids early on will instill responsibility and give them the skills they need to move into adulthood more fluidly. Having self-sufficient kids is more than just teaching them life skills. It’s also about nurturing confidence and independence in a world that is going away from both of those ideas.
“Children need the freedom to explore, test, invent and be resourceful in order to better understand who they are and the world around them. This knowledge – including knowing they can fail, recover, learn from it, and do better later – builds self-confidence, and from that self-confidence, independence.” – Source, Self Sufficient Kids
Children need to be more discerning and better critical thinkers in the world we live in. They need to have the confidence that they are capable of thinking for themselves, handling challenges, and finding the right path forward on their own – without us. But how do we do that? By starting simple.
5 Easy Ways To Cultivate Self-Reliant Children
1 – Cooking – Start out easy with teaching them to make eggs, sandwiches, burgers, and move on to sauces for spaghetti or a simple soup. My daughter is actually responsible for making eggs for herself and her brother in the mornings and she’s only 10 years old. She chooses the seasoning and whether to fry them or scramble them. This gives her choices in how her food is made and is a jump start to learning more difficult meals.
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2 – Money management – Teaching kids how to manage money and, ultimately, how to save their money will help them realize the importance of a dollar. Consider opening a savings account and letting them work toward a goal. For example, maybe they want to buy a car when they are old enough to drive. I give my kids extra chores above and beyond what’s already expected of them; and if they do it well, they earn money that we put in their savings accounts. Another thing is we let them earn cash, then take them to a store to choose something that they want with that money and they cannot spend more than they made. Read the book: Don’t Save for Retirement: A Millennial’s Guide to Financial Freedom.
