Who is teaching your child life skills?
- By Lisa Soesbe
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- 20 Sep, 2018
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If it isn't you, make sure someone is
A friend posted an article on Facebook today that sparked me to write this. Here is a link to the article in the Palm Beach Post titled....College Students Don't Know Where To Buy Stamps to Mail Absentee Ballots. I was appalled and sad when reading this and it made me think about how I learned to buy a postage stamp. The answer that I came up with is...."I have no idea! I just learned this." I then took a moment and thought deeper about this. It could have been something I learned just by watching my parents stamp and mail a letter at the post office or maybe it is something I learned from Mr. Rogers. The point is that this is something I know how to do and my parents made sure I knew this. There are so many things that we as adults and parents take for granted that we just know but how can we be sure our kids know them too?
I am a homeschooling mom and I also teach at a local homeschooling co-op. Right now I am teaching middle-school aged children financial literacy and how not to go into debt. This is a needed life skill that could prevent a lot of mistakes with money later in life. If kids are taught from a young age that going in to debt will not serve them well in the future then they will be way ahead of the game. Why do I teach this? Because I have personal experience with debt and how it can quickly get out of control. I want kids to learn these things now so that later in life they can be smarter with money. Sadly, many parents were never taught this as a child and now have their own problems with debt that require fixing. If we are proactive and educate our kids while they are young, there is no repair needed later on.
I am a homeschooling mom and I also teach at a local homeschooling co-op. Right now I am teaching middle-school aged children financial literacy and how not to go into debt. This is a needed life skill that could prevent a lot of mistakes with money later in life. If kids are taught from a young age that going in to debt will not serve them well in the future then they will be way ahead of the game. Why do I teach this? Because I have personal experience with debt and how it can quickly get out of control. I want kids to learn these things now so that later in life they can be smarter with money. Sadly, many parents were never taught this as a child and now have their own problems with debt that require fixing. If we are proactive and educate our kids while they are young, there is no repair needed later on.
Last year I taught children between the ages of four and ten years old some important kitchen skills like how to crack an egg, how to properly use a knife, kitchen safety, etc. These are also great skills that are needed if you want children to learn how to cook their own meals and so that they can be more conscious of what they are eating. Just like financial literacy, many parents just do not have these skills because they were not taught how to do these things as a child.
What about skills like being a gentleman? These skills are usually taught by dads who were also taught this....but if this was never something taught to a father by their father, where do these children learn these things? There are a lot of children who grow up with no father in the picture and in that case where are they learning these important skills? If there is no father in the picture, then hopefully there is a positive male influence that can teach these things. There are some great resources online and even at the library to help single moms with no father in the picture to raise gentlemen.
These are things we need to be aware of as parents. If we want to raise productive and successful adults, our job as parents is to make sure that they have these skills so that they are prepared later in life. We can not assume that they know these things or that they are learning these things in school. It is our responsibility as parents to teach them right from wrong and how to do things. If we do not know them, we should find someone that does and learn from them so that we can teach our children these important things.
One easy exercise any parent can do daily is to simply ask your kids if they know something specific. You can start by asking questions at dinner like " Do you know where you buy a stamp? ". If they don't know, consider it a teaching moment. Just that simple question could prevent an article like the one in the Palm Beach Post.
What about skills like being a gentleman? These skills are usually taught by dads who were also taught this....but if this was never something taught to a father by their father, where do these children learn these things? There are a lot of children who grow up with no father in the picture and in that case where are they learning these important skills? If there is no father in the picture, then hopefully there is a positive male influence that can teach these things. There are some great resources online and even at the library to help single moms with no father in the picture to raise gentlemen.
These are things we need to be aware of as parents. If we want to raise productive and successful adults, our job as parents is to make sure that they have these skills so that they are prepared later in life. We can not assume that they know these things or that they are learning these things in school. It is our responsibility as parents to teach them right from wrong and how to do things. If we do not know them, we should find someone that does and learn from them so that we can teach our children these important things.
One easy exercise any parent can do daily is to simply ask your kids if they know something specific. You can start by asking questions at dinner like " Do you know where you buy a stamp? ". If they don't know, consider it a teaching moment. Just that simple question could prevent an article like the one in the Palm Beach Post.
Have you ever bribed your children with sweet treats to get them to do something? Let’s face it, we have all done this before. I’ll be the first one to say I have done this until I realized why I should stop the cycle.
In schools, sporting clubs, and other activities where children are involved, people reward children with candy and other unhealthy snacks. There are even popular lesson plans used in schools that include using M&M’s or Skittles; after the children use the treats for their lesson, they get to eat them as their reward. In American society, this has now become the norm. Go to the barbershop and Johnny gets a treat because he sat so nicely for his haircut. Go to dance class and little Mary gets a piece of candy at the end of class. Go to the bank and Joey gets a lollipop for being a good boy in the bank. It goes on and on. The people that assume that this is okay think, “What’s the big deal?”. This may even be you! I will tell you why this is such a big deal. This is affecting our children both physically and emotionally.
In schools, sporting clubs, and other activities where children are involved, people reward children with candy and other unhealthy snacks. There are even popular lesson plans used in schools that include using M&M’s or Skittles; after the children use the treats for their lesson, they get to eat them as their reward. In American society, this has now become the norm. Go to the barbershop and Johnny gets a treat because he sat so nicely for his haircut. Go to dance class and little Mary gets a piece of candy at the end of class. Go to the bank and Joey gets a lollipop for being a good boy in the bank. It goes on and on. The people that assume that this is okay think, “What’s the big deal?”. This may even be you! I will tell you why this is such a big deal. This is affecting our children both physically and emotionally.
If there is one thing I am good at, it is stretching a dollar. This is one reason I love getting gift cards for gifts. I know that I am great at getting as much out of that gift card that I can by shopping myself. It is like a game for me to see how much stuff I can get with a gift card paired with sales and coupons. Call me weird but it saves me money! I do the same thing when it comes to purchasing groceries. I have standards when it comes to the food I am eating and feeding my family. Food is one of the most important things that you buy and what kind of food you are buying matters in terms of your health. So while I would much rather to be able to purchase good food than sport a luxury purse or designer clothing, I still like to stretch my food dollars as much as possible. If I told you that you can actually get cash back for eating healthy, would you believe me?
I want to share a little hack I discovered a long time ago that I use a lot and pretty much for any online shopping. Have you ever heard of Ebates ? If you are not a member, you are going to want to click on the word Ebates anywhere in this post and sign up today because it will save you lots of money on anything you buy and if you use the referral link, once you sign up and spend $25 or more, you will get $10. If you are not a member you have nothing to lose because it costs you nothing. Do you shop online at all? Chances are your favorite retailer is on Ebates and you will get paid for your normal shopping routine just by signing into Ebates first and then going to your favorite site. Some examples of stores I am talking about are Target, Walmart, Kohl's and even Amazon! You simply must check this out.
Now, let me tell you about how I get cash back for eating healthy. My hack is to log in to Ebates and then shop the sales on Vitacost.com. Vitacost is an online health and wellness store with over 45,000 products. They also tend to have the best prices on most things. This gives me great savings because I can buy stuff like organic coconut milk, raw nuts, soy free chocolate chips, nut butters, and gluten-free flours as well as personal care items like deodorant, shampoo and conditioner from Vitacost when it is on sale and if I am buying through Ebates I will normally get at least 3% cash back from Vitacost. They also offer free 2-day shipping on orders over $49 so I usually order stuff that I will need for the month in one order so that I can save on shipping as well.
I want to share a little hack I discovered a long time ago that I use a lot and pretty much for any online shopping. Have you ever heard of Ebates ? If you are not a member, you are going to want to click on the word Ebates anywhere in this post and sign up today because it will save you lots of money on anything you buy and if you use the referral link, once you sign up and spend $25 or more, you will get $10. If you are not a member you have nothing to lose because it costs you nothing. Do you shop online at all? Chances are your favorite retailer is on Ebates and you will get paid for your normal shopping routine just by signing into Ebates first and then going to your favorite site. Some examples of stores I am talking about are Target, Walmart, Kohl's and even Amazon! You simply must check this out.
Now, let me tell you about how I get cash back for eating healthy. My hack is to log in to Ebates and then shop the sales on Vitacost.com. Vitacost is an online health and wellness store with over 45,000 products. They also tend to have the best prices on most things. This gives me great savings because I can buy stuff like organic coconut milk, raw nuts, soy free chocolate chips, nut butters, and gluten-free flours as well as personal care items like deodorant, shampoo and conditioner from Vitacost when it is on sale and if I am buying through Ebates I will normally get at least 3% cash back from Vitacost. They also offer free 2-day shipping on orders over $49 so I usually order stuff that I will need for the month in one order so that I can save on shipping as well.
How we prevented a potentially bad situation by paying close attention
In the words of Ellen Degeneres, "Be Kind to One Another"
