Tag: life skills

LIFE 101

Teaching your child to navigate basic life skills

Without a daily commute, extracurricular activities or playdates, you’re going to find yourself with a lot of extra time spent with your family. This presents a perfect opportunity to teach your kids some of the basic life lessons we squeeze in on the weekends and evenings. We’ve got some ideas to make learning these (and teaching) some basic life skills.

Ride a two-wheeler

Be sure your child’s helmet fits their head properly before the pedaling starts. Download this helpful step-by-step guide.

A long weekend is a perfect time to remove those training wheels. Be sure to protect your child from inevitable falls by having them wear jeans and knee and elbow pads. To make your job a little easier you may want to pick-up a grab bar to attach to the bike.

If you prefer to get started with a balance bike rather then jump right into a two-wheeler, give it a try on a grassy area with a slight incline. Learning to balance while rolling down a small hill will give your child a good start when they are ready to try riding a bike.

Tie Shoes

True, it’s much easier to continue to purchase slip-on or velcro shoes, but eventually your child will have a need to tie their shoes. That said, the things we do without really thinking about it can be the hardest to teach. Here are some tips and tricks to help teach the art of tying a shoe:

  • Choose soft, easy-to-hold laces. Many children do better with the wide, flat laces at first.
  • Use light-colored or better yet, two-tone laces for more contrast. Shoe tying will be easier for your child if they can easily see which is which.
  • Use a marker or pen to mark where your child should hold their laces.
  • Be prepared to teach more than one technique in case the first method you show your child doesn’t “stick.”
  • Watch a YouTube video with your child and learn a new knot together. Have your child “teach” you what they learned from the video.
  • There are many shoe tying books and toys available that may be helpful to your child as they learn to tie.

Learn the ABCs and Count

Download a version of the ABCs and a counting song and mix it in with your kid’s favorite playlist. Your child will learn to sing the ABC’s and count to 100 as quickly as they learned Baby Shark (doo doo doo doo doo doo).

Dressing and Undressing

Zippers can be a challenge for a 5-year-old suddenly on their own in Kindergarten (especially if they really have to go to the bathroom). Spend some time practicing zipping and unzipping pants and jackets.

Address an Envelope

Receiving mail during a quarantine is a major highlight of anyone’s day. So, why not brighten someone’s day and teach your children the art of addressing an envelope! You can purchase stamps online to avoid going to the post office in person.

Don’t put-off important checkups and vaccines!

Skipping vaccines and checkups can be dangerous. IHA Pediatricians’ offices are open, and safety measures are in place. Call to schedule your child’s next appointment!

Call Your Pediatrician

Teachable Moments

What do you do when there’s nothing to do?

We’re often so busy with education and activities outside our homes, there aren’t many opportunities to educate children inside the home. Enter the quarantine of 2020. Never has there been a time where we were all in our homes for weeks at a time, without any outside activities. This time presents many opportunities for teachable moments around the house.

Laundry.

Darks and lights. What goes in the dryer, what doesn’t. Now is the time to teach your child some basic lessons around doing laundry to ensure your they aren’t clueless at the laundromat their freshman year of college. Even the youngest child can help load machines, measure detergent, push buttons and match up clean socks (if you can find both).

Cook.

Allow your child to (safely) assist with planning, preparing and cooking meals. Plan a cooking competition, with your child as the chef and the rest of the family as judges, set the table and have the family dress up for a fancy sit down dinner.

Make the bed.

This is a simple act that can set the tone for the rest of the day. Before you make it out of your room, you already accomplished something!

Read a map.

Because those turn by turn directions aren’t right every single time, you’ll want you child to have the ability to understand a map, paper or digital. Plan a scavenger hunt in your yard with a treasure at the end, and let your child be the leader. If you have older children, give geocaching a try!

Hammer a Nail.

Learning some basic home repair skills at an early age can come in handy (pun intended) when your child becomes a homeowner or apartment dweller. Assist your child with hammering nails into a board, teach them how to change a light bulb, plunge a toilet, paint a room or any other items on the to-do list. You’ll feel accomplished to check-off your list and your child will pick-up some great skills. It’s a win-win!

Clean the bathroom.

Much like lessons in home improvement and laundry, some basic cleaning skills will serve as lifelong tools for your child. Ask them to help with the dishes, pick-up toys, vacuum the rugs, clean the windows and the bathroom. Be sure an adult supervises children while cleaning and use products that are safe for children.

Balance a bank account.

This is a great way to teach math without having to learn elementary school math. Create a play store, give your kids some money and help them learn about spending and saving.

Plant a garden.

Find an area of your yard where your child can create their garden. Work together to clean the area, remove weeds and prepare the dirt to receive plants or seeds in the coming weeks. If you have the supplies needed, start seeds growing in a window now. The responsibility and reward of planting and caring for a garden throughout the summer are wonderful lessons for children and adults alike.

Manage a schedule.

Ask you child to create their own schedule. How do they want to structure their day? What’s important to them? Help them learn to balance free time or play time with work time. Getting work done is important, but learning to balance work with leisure will give them skills to manage their stress levels in adulthood.