5 Essential Life Skills For Teens To Learn
There are many things you might consider highly important for your teen to learn. This does not apply only to their academic and extracurricular activities or household chores, but it relates to the life skills they will need to use throughout their life.
While you might already be looking up web searches such as "language learning for kids," "part-time jobs for teens," "investing app for kids," and similar, you should start by taking the time to create a list of what you think the highest priority life skills are for both you and your teen.
Financial Skills
Money can easily seem like it is everything in the world if you happen to run into financial issues. As a parent, you want your kid on top of their financial management, both now and in the long and distant future. So, what can you do for your teen about it?
Talking about money is a good start. The most detrimental choice is to avoid money-related conversations, as it only instills negative and fearful feelings in your teen. At the same time, you could teach them about personal and financial responsibility instead. Or how to purchase their first apartment.
If you are unsure where to begin, consider looking into apps like BusyKid that will do the teaching for you and give you oversight over your teen's spending - all through the app.
Organizational Skills
Time management is one of those skills that, if you get it down right, has you fully equipped to take on every task and efficiently process it or, if you do not get the hang of it, it has you writing across two planners, three chats, and four calendar apps in chaos.
This skill, in particular, has several accompanying benefits, as it teaches order, discipline, excellence, and prioritizing. It is essential for adults and youngsters alike. Have your teen draft a plan and see if they can stick it out. Start by focusing on their study habits and how to prepare for tests and projects.
Help them by giving them a diary or by showing them an appropriate app that will ensure that this is not overwhelming for them.
Cooking Skills
While it may sound obvious to want to teach your teen to cook, the internet is flooded with channels and subscribers teaching college students how to cook healthy while keeping on a tight budget. The views on such videos, in essence, speak for themselves.
Introduce your teen to family recipes and favorite cookbooks, and don't be afraid to experiment even when they come to you with enthusiasm for "viral Tik Tok baked feta pasta" instead of what you might have planned for the night. Patience is key.
Social Skills
It is safe to say that all of us have, at least once in our life, felt anxious about doing a job interview or simply making a phone call to the local pizza place. Some of these tasks you may consider simple might be a challenge for teens.
Various research has repeatedly shown that teen stress and anxiety levels are widespread and rising. A little over 30% of teens nowadays face anxiety throughout the US, which is why social skills should be a main priority.
Job Skills
The internet is filled with articles and recommendations for top skills to teach your teens. However, teaching your kids how to make the first step toward employment is, oddly enough, often overlooked.
Employability is a huge skill, and this is one of the first steps toward it. Whether they are already looking for a job or just considering it for the future, you want your kids to know how to write a quality CV, resume, and cover letter to secure the best summer jobs for teens.
It is better to show them the basics and not have them lost in the online jungle googling templates on end.
Conclusion
Regardless of which life skills you end up deciding are the most important ones, consider that every time you help your teen develop a new skill, you are setting them up for adolescence and adult life. The earlier you instill good habits, the better.
Above all things, stay patient and focus on finding ways to make these skills interesting for your teen as they are going through a phase full of big changes in their life at the same time.
