Teaching Life Lessons Early

Overall this year we have had a wonderful experience of our girls going to school.  It has been an interesting adventure seeing what they are learning that we are proud of as well as habits we wouldn’t necessarily encourage.  How much do we learn in the early years that sticks with us throughout our lives?  Some parents may expect the school system to teach our children all the basics of life, yet the school funds are decreasing and more kids attending each classroom.  I recently volunteered for the mandatory standardize testing which gauges how much each student is learning and improving.  As I was watching the students trying to concentrate for a rather lengthy time I had to wonder how accurate those tests really are and what areas do they completely miss?

What  good life long basic skills do we learn at home and in elementary school besides reading, writing and math:

• Manners – if you haven’t taught your kids already they may pick up more phrases like  “please” “thank you” and so forth which is beneficial.  You may also hear words and phrases you would not encourage, therefore, you have the opportunity to share with them why they don’t use those words.  Sharing with others is necessary when you have a group of students in a classroom.  Taking turns is hard but it is great lesson to learn.  I was impressed to see a young male student holding the door open for the female student while I was volunteering, granted I was in a small classroom so maybe those students have more one-on-one encouragement, either way it was good to see that the parent / teacher training was instilled.  Listening and waiting to speak is a difficult skill to master.  When you have a classroom full of students it is one that has to be enforce and is a wonderful skill to maintain.
• Friendships – little ones learn quickly about friendships in school.  We all have the desire to be liked by everyone even at an early age.  A child would give up an opportunity to ride a bike in a heartbeat for the promise of friendship.  My daughters have learned that it can take a lot of work to maintain friendships.  It is a delicate balance teaching your child to be a true friend while letting them know that it is important that the friendships requires work from both parties.  They have learned that friendships can be fickle as well, one day someone is your best friend and the next day they don’t want to play with you at recess or speak with you.  As a parent we need to encourage healthy friendships for our children.  Part of that is leading by example, do you have friendships that are out of balance yourself and how do you react?  Your children need to see that you have friendships that are healthy.
• Generosity – children are naturally generous, they want to help others and get excited when they can do something that will help another person.  My daughters enjoy contributing to the toy drive, food drive and other functions the school has set up.  Are they seeing you as a parent being generous at home?  Do you take food to the local food pantry, donate clothes, help a friend in need, and so forth?  You may not have a lot of monetary funds to help but you have been blessed with something if only time to volunteer to help another person.  Your kids will notice, get excited and want to pitch in too.
• Education – you learn how to read, write and all other avenues of learning in school.  It is essential to allow your children to learn, grow and explore while at school and at home.  Visit the local library, museum or go on little adventures where you can teach them about wildlife or flowers.  Kids love to learn and reading fun stories.  They can learn quickly too so take the time to invest in their education both at school and home.  Each child and family is unique whether that means public, private, or home school take an active role in their education.
• Recess – it is important even at a young age to take breaks.  Whether you are a student or working take time to regularly get up, stretch, and walk around.  It allows you to be more alert and focused when you come back to the work at hand.  Having fun as a kid and adult is allowed so do it when you can.
• Social – you can learn a lot of positive and negative consequences to how you interact with different people and personalities.  Being a positive upbeat person you will have the ability to share a smile, hug or help someone.  Make sure you demonstrate a positive outlook on life and show your children how to interact socially with other adults and children.  Have another family over for game night, go to the park for a picnic, or take your kid to work with you for a couple hours.  Show them how interact appropriately.

Parents can find ways to have school compliment what they are already teaching their children.  Many of the habits we pick up we learn at an early age and those features can carry over to our work and families as we grow older.  Find ways to positively teach your child so they have more opportunities to have good impact on the lives they touch.   What are ways you are teaching your children to be better friends, generous, polite, and kind?