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School is the place where we spend a great amount of time during the developmental stages of our lives. Yet, despite having acquired a great deal of knowledge, we often enter adult life unprepared.

That is because many critical life skills that are never taught at school. And, if parents do not find other ways of teaching them to us, we may spend our entire lives not learning them.

As a parent, you have the power to change that. Below are eight essential life skills that can alter the course of our children’s lives.

8 Critical Life Skills Our Children Should Learn at School 

1. Effective Listening

Effective listening skills are paramount for successful communication. Without it, we risk missing critical information, causing misunderstandings, and conflicts.

Knowing how to be a good listener can make a huge difference in both our personal and professional relationships. Sadly though, children are often told to listen rather than taught how to do it.

2. Conflict Management

We, humans, generally avoid conflict. It makes us feel bad, may cause embarrassment, and can ruin relationships. We see conflict as something inherently bad and tend to avoid it at any cost.

We often enter a conflict with “I have to win this” attitude regardless of whether we’re actually right. Frequently, we don’t actually listen to the other person and don’t solve anything.

Often, conflicts are brushed under the carpet and later resurface at a more intense scale.

However, conflict in itself isn’t bad. It simply indicates a difference in opinion. If handled properly, it can result in growth and evolution.

3. Managing Finances

Do you ever feel like you’re working around the clock and saving only to discover that your financial situation hasn’t actually improved?

That may be because finance management, one of the most important life skills, was never taught to you at school.

Children learn math, algebra, and geometry at school. They may even cover basic economics.

Nonetheless, upon growing up, we don’t know anything about loans, taxes, interest rates, how to plan out a personal budget, and even how to save or shop wisely.

Being familiar and experienced with these life skills can help our children feel more financially secure and prevent them from making irresponsible financial choices.

4. Time Management

Schools are generous in one thing – homework and assignments. We have plenty of it and need everything to be done on time. We may handle all of that, yet not in the most efficient way.

Later in life, that manifests at work as well, for instance, in working overtime, staying longer hours at work, and similar. When, in actuality, it may not always be needed.

With proper time management life skills, we can accomplish more without draining ourselves or damaging our health and relationships.

5. Coping with Failure

Like conflict, failure is generally seen as bad. We’re encouraged to avoid failure and punish ourselves harshly if we do fail.

But, like conflict, failure isn’t always bad. It only indicates that a certain approach isn’t working and another needs to be taken.

Do all that you can to ensure your child does not fear failure. Their ability to deal with it will determine how far they’ll go in life.

6. Negotiation

Would you like to have a higher salary? The reason you may never bring it up to your boss is probably your inability to negotiate.

Knowing how to negotiate does not only apply to grand-scale business deals. It can help your children score a better salary, a better deal with a vendor, or a lower price for an apartment that they’d like to rent.

7. Self-Defense

Life isn’t always easy and it isn’t always safe. Many children get bullied in schools.

Unfortunately, only few know how to defend themselves.

Enrolling your child in a self-defense class can make them feel more confident and help handle or avoid dangerous situations.

8. Looking For and Applying for a Job

While looking and applying for a job is something we all need to do at some stage of our lives, we go through much trial and error while we do so.

Imagine how much easier this could be if we entered the labor market with the competence of how to look and apply for jobs as well as successfully communicate in job interviews.

So, if you’d like your child to have a good job, make sure they are taught the critical life skills of how to properly go about getting one.

While skills and knowledge taught in schools is useful and important, there’s more to life than simply knowing how to pass tests and exams.  Find ways of teaching and incorporating these skills in your child’s life and they’ll have more opportunities in life.

Which life skills do you consider the most important and why? Are you teaching any of them to your child?