Thursday, September 6, 2012

Parenting Pointers: Practical Knowledge for Children


As my children grew up during each stage of their lives I did my best to give them practical knowledge about any and every situation that came up. I wanted to give them life skills for dealing with people, work, shopping, money, and everyday chores. I believe that an education is extremely important for everyone. But if you don’t equip them with common sense for when they get out on their own it will be much harder on them to cope. I’d just like to share with you a few ways I tried to teach these common sense skills to my children as they were growing up.

I loved, and still love, to be with my children. I wanted to engage them in every aspect of my life. When I could I even brought them to my place of business. I wanted them to see what mom did all day. I was blessed that my mother took care of my children and had the same mind set about teaching the children as I did. She made a point of teaching them all about housework and yard work. The only complaint I had about mom was that she would end up doing the work for them as she was teaching. My mother is the fastest worker you will ever see, bar none. She has always been that way and is still that way. As children my brothers and I learned quickly that if we waited to clean our rooms that mom could no longer stand it within an hour or so and our rooms would be clean. So I’m not sure how much work my kids actually did while with mother but they sure saw a lot of housework being done!

On the weekends it was my turn and since I was tired from working all week I was not going to do what mom did. I needed all the help I could get plus I knew my little ones needed to work. Since none of us really wanted to do the jobs I decided to make it fun. We would sit down and make a list of everything that needed to be done that day. We would tear each job off the list and put it into the chore bucket. We tried to come up with an even number of chores, if not, I would take the extra. I only have two children so it was split three ways (just think what you could accomplish with three or four kids). Anyway, we made a deal before hand that if you selected a chore you particularly hated and someone would swap with you that it would be acceptable. If you got no takers it was yours. My son was seven years younger than my daughter so if there was a particularly hard chore we would give him a hand or always swap out. If someone was having a bad day I told them we could help each other with the chores, work along side for support. I think it was me that usually needed this! I told them when we got finished we would do something fun. It was a fair way to divide up the chores, and no one screamed about getting something easier or harder than the other guy. They learned how to do every chore in the house by the time they got out of high school. It made it way easier on me too.

When they were old enough I had them learning all about yard work too. We worked in the yard as a family. It didn’t take as much time and it was a lot more fun. They started out with the smaller jobs like pulling weeds or watering the plants. As they got older I taught them to mow and hand trim the bushes. My son progressed to using the power trimmers and chain saws, which he loved. My daughter didn’t have the arms for it but that’s okay, she can sure get around with the weed eater!

We also cooked together on many occasions. I taught both my son and daughter how to make most of the basic meals, the old stand bys. My daughter and I spent a lot of time reading cookbooks; I can’t say that my son joined in on that except for to give a thumbs up or thumbs down when it was done. Many times I’d ask them what we should make for suppers that week and get suggestions. After we wrote down our meal plans I would ask them to go make sure we had all the ingredients and if we didn’t to put them on the list. My son began to tell his friends that the list was a magic list because every time you wrote something on there it magically appeared! That’s my boy. Anyway, I would take them with me to the grocery store to shop and send them off for different list items. I went with them at first to show them how to check the prices via the tags below the items. I taught them to compare the brands and which ones were probably the best choices. Not only was this an opportunity to pick up the best brands but also to pay for the groceries and figure out how much change they were supposed to get back. Everything was not quite so automated when my kids were younger, I’m afraid that skill is getting lost. My daughter has been shopping on her own for a while now, my son was a hit and miss kind of guy. But just the other day he went to the store for me and came back so proud of the deals he got… that was when I knew it had paid off.

Now granted, at least at my house, this next teaching experience was much easier with my daughter than my son because of the nature of the beast. Clothes shopping is just not my son’s forte but then it’s not really my daughters either; she’s just much more cooperative. That is until he got into shopping for auto parts, tools, and stereo equipment. I would talk to them about sales prices, if it says it’s fifty percent off how much will this cost? How would you figure out thirty percent off? I’m no mathematician but I certainly learned my percentages quickly when I was a teenager and was low on funds. I could find a bargain rack faster than a fly finds sugar. My kids weren’t that eager but I still got the opportunity to teach some basic math. Not only that but I also got the opportunity to teach them about style and how to coordinate an outfit. There’s another very important life skill!

Another life skill that so many children are lacking these days is the ability to answer the phone or door politely. It’s important also that they know how to have a conversation with an adult. My son was just reminding me the other day of how I made him answer the phone when he was small. He said I still think about saying it every time I answer my cell phone but I catch myself! It’s all my fault and I’m thankful. He laughs about it but everyone who called my house when my children were young had nothing but good things to say. When someone came over to the house they would come out and say their hellos and sit for a minute to speak to whoever it was and then excuse themselves and go back to play. I believe we should teach our children how to communicate with others no matter what their age and always, always be polite and kind. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is something everyone should remember.

Last but not least an extremely important thing I taught my children to do was to play. That may sound really strange but in this day and age when video games and computers have taken over and children rarely go out to play or play board games, tag, or hide and seek I think it’s something that needs to be taught all over again. Show them how to make mud pies, how to make a rope swing, or how to make a tent in the living room. Play hide and seek, charades, or a board game as a family. Ride bikes, camp out in the back yard, or go to the park and swing! Teach them how to be a family. When everyone is going his or her way and you barely see one another that is when things begin to fall down as far as the family is concerned. It’s so much fun and they grow up so fast, don’t miss a chance to spend time with your kids. It is of so much more value than many of the things we do today. And have fun!

Author Bio:
Paul and his wife Julie both spend quite a bit of time coming up with ideas, blogging, and researching all things related to childcare. They take care of all the necessary information related to “babysittingjobs.com/”. He personally thinks his blog will help finding information on all things related to a babysitter.



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