A key part of our children’s development is not about the academic side of things, but about ensuring they understand the real world is somewhere that requires the right preparation. When we have young kids, we don’t want to burden them with the boring aspects of the real world, but we still need to make sure they understand some of the key fundamentals. What are these and how can we prepare them?
Failure
Failure is such an important thing that we all tend to shy away from. But the fact is that we can allow them to try and fail in a supportive environment. You don’t have to let them fall over and hurt themselves but we need to remind them that something can be difficult, so, therefore, trying a different approach next time is essential. One of the best ways to do this is to get them to play video games. While you may not think video games are always suitable, the fact is that there are numerous racing games and strategy games that can be very complex or frustrating, and therefore, if it comes to a point where they don’t succeed, this is where we have to reinforce the notion of trying again. We all develop resilience by doing our best but then trying again.
Dealing With Conflict
Our children will pick up on how we deal with conflict, and they will emulate that behavior. If your child is not able to master conflict or they quit something before they have the opportunity to work out a problem, we need to remember that managing conflict is about the long-term solutions rather than quitting as a short-term means to an end. We can help our children by embodying the things we would like them to achieve but it’s also about remembering that we need to teach them the skills to keep calm in a crisis. Young children will need to act out because they are not emotionally ready to solve problems, however, it’s always a good idea to learn how to be calm when we are angry, as this will help us in any tense situation.
Money Management
This is something that we can even teach our children when they are really young. We can always provide an allowance in exchange for certain chores and open up a savings account for them. We have to remember that this is essential because we don’t want to be footing the bill for them later in life.
Personal Responsibility
Our children will make their own decisions and we have to remember that they will make choices that are their own responsibility. We need to teach our children that problems are something we should own. Blaming others means that they can avoid taking responsibility, so learning a way to modify their behavior so they can lead a more responsible life is crucial.
The real world is such a massive subject for young kids, but we must remember that our children need a solid foundation.
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