The Best Skills To Teach Your Children at a Young Age
It's never too early for your children to start learning valuable life skills. Here are a few suggestions of the ones we think you should start with.
It's never too early for your children to start learning life skills - hobbies and interests that could go on to define their life, their personality and even their career.
While it may be difficult knowing what they're particularly interested in at a younger age, it's your job as their parent or guardian to push them in the right direction, helping them discover for themselves what they enjoy doing.
What's more, certain skills are simply required in life. Therefore, teaching them these types of skills at a younger age will put them in good stead as they grow up and mature into adulthood.
So, what are these skills I hear you ask? Well, that's what we're here to discuss in this article.
Cooking & Baking
Whether it be simply heating a tin of baked beans or creating the most perfectly risen souffle, cooking and baking are essential life skills that everyone, everywhere should know how to do.
While your children may be too young to help with chopping up vegetables or using the hot oven right now, there is still plenty they can do to help you out in the kitchen.
Baking cookies or cakes, for example, can be a great way of introducing them to the world of baking. Have them help you follow a recipe, measure out ingredients, stir them together into a mixture and pour them into a tin. Then, let them lick the bowl as a treat for helping.
Once they get their hands on the tasty treats they've helped create, they will not only feel a sense of pride for their achievement but they'll also have learnt the basics of how to bake. You can then take this skill set further with them moving forward.
A Musical Instrument
Scientifically speaking, learning a musical instrument at a young age is said to help children become more creative, well-rounded, focused individuals.
What's more, there's no limit to how early you want your children to start learning; certain studies have found that children can receive the various benefits of learning an instrument at just three years old.
Whether it be the recorder, ukulele, guitar, piano, saxophone, drums or another type, learning how to play a musical instrument can help teach children the importance of practice, discipline and patience.
Additionally, it can also help improve self-esteem, promote maths and reading skills and increase memory capacity, so it could help their career prospects in the future too.
A Second Language
In a similar way to how learning a musical instrument can help your children in later life, studying a second language could as well.
Generally speaking, the younger your child's mind is, the easier it will be for them to learn a second - or even a third - language. This is because a child's brain tends to be a lot more flexible than an adult brain, making it easier for them to mimic, learn, remember and comprehend complicated language structures.
The benefits this provides are second to none. Many studies have found that children who could speak a second language later went on to not only become better at solving complex problems but they also scored higher on standardised tests.
Likewise, from a careers perspective, being able to speak an extra language helped these children both appear more employable and opened up several extra potential opportunities.
For further advice on the best skills to teach your children, make sure you check out our blog and Facebook Community Page.
