What do you consider as essential life skills?

[IndependentAdjudicator]

You're now a parent.
How do you go about equipping your child to be confident in the real world?

How to clean your body and teeth properly,
and wash hair.

Basic first aid. How to clean and treat a scratch, cut or graze.

Making a Plan B as standard. So if X doesn’t work, they will already have an idea of how to move forward. Particularly relevant for young people moving around independently for the first time.

how to entertain themself without a phone.

How to look after your own emotional and physical wellbeing

Strong personal boundaries

To not to worry too much or too little.

Being able to read music and have a reasonable understanding of Western music theory.

Listening
Consideration
Cooking
Budgeting
Cleaning
Swimming
Driving

cooking/ following recipes…this also includes the shopping part of cooking
cleaning/ laundry….this also includes having the necessary tools to clean
Time value of money
Properly introducing themselves/others and.managing conversational interactions across the age spans
life is not a competition. There is enough success to go around. Do well and help others do well also. Building up over
competing with
USA so driving..swimming..water and snow skiing. Also recommend golf and tennis but only DS golfs
Don’t spend money you don’t have…make thoughtful purchases and people over things always
love yourself believe in yourself

Being non-judgemental of other children/people
Being good at negotiation and compromise
Conflict resolution
Learning to not take things personally
The importance of having fun and laughter in your life every day
Being a good and supportive friend
Having strong boundaries
Learning that no means no

Be independent, both emotionally and financially & save, save & save but treat yourself too. NEVER, ever leave yourself vulnerable financially.

Compromise but not to your detriment.

have high standards & self worth.

be a good person & stick to your beliefs.

Be unique & keep your SOH.

as a female to be able to assert your opinion and wishes in the face of entitled males To recognise when people are trying to manipulate you and to stop them in their tracks.

How do you equip them? Just love them. Be their biggest cheerleader and, equally, talk them through when they fuck up. Don't tie yourself into knots about tiny details as "all 2 year olds do X,Y,Z". Protect their souls and try to be aware when you are doing too much on that score. Encourage them to try as many things as possible and teach them to be self confident enough to speak their minds and say no. Or yes.

And be aware that, even though you have done all that, they might not find life as easy as you hope because they're human.

I’ll add how to make a phone call (booking a dentist appointment, booking car in for a repair etc). Meal planning and preparation. Traveling independently. How to seek appropriate medical advice including when to call 111, go to pharmacy, go to A&E. Household chores. Who to go to for advice.

Good post. I actually can’t swim or drive, but neither has stymied my life, and I absolutely agree about not knowing what skills will be needed, so the key one is to be able to learn new things and deal with being out of your comfort zone.

The other one I’d say is social confidence. Being able to walk into a room of strangers and circulate, making conversation, being able to speak well in public, being able to communicate your needs clearly and civilly, resolve minor conflicts, assert yourself verbally.

All the practical looking after yourself type stuff obviously but I also think it's very important that youngsters learn to think critically, and that they have a basic understanding of statistics and scientific method.
Now more than ever, young people are bombarded with huge amounts of information of vastly variable quality. I think it's really important to teach them not to just accept everything they read and to question the reliability of sources. Obviously that's partly the school's job, but certainly from tweens onward we talked a lot about that kind of thing at home too. Not just "what do you think about X or Y?" but "Why do you think that?"

The obvious ones (budgeting, being able to cook to a basic level, swimming, driving, first aid) but also

• resilience
• being able / willing to ask for help
• being able to communicate generally - yes, including with people you don't know - be that F2F or on the phone

So many that have already been suggested, but also, empathy for animals as well as people. I find that trying to see the world through an animal’s eyes makes me think more flexibly and notice more.

It can also make children more compassionate and keep them safer. For example, my DD understands the basics of how cats and dogs communicate and knows how to behave around unfamiliar dogs.

Listening to and understanding your body's cues: pain, thirst, hunger, tiredness, anger, anxiety, stress....

Then knowing how to react.

Unfortunately Ive passed migraines onto my DC and am now teaching them to be aware of the signs and anticipate what their body needs.

All household chores inc. cooking
Managing money
Managing health appointments and illnesses etc
Application forms
Telling the time

Girls should be taught how to recognize the first red flags of toxic behaviour in men, and that it is okay to walk away even when there's only one red flag.

Financially able
Must be able to cook
Maintain a car
Get bureaucratic stuff done
Have good interpersonal skills
Be happy alone
Be able to enjoy life without a lot of money
How to say no
As mn says, you do you, in relation to life. Don't follow anyone elses tune

To accept its "ok" to feel any type of emotion without feeling guilty.

To learn and navigate the world, they must make mistakes and pick themselves up.

They will be shown how to budget, will only be bailed out so many times as they need to learn from mistakes the hard way.

Learn how to cook, and use suitable cleaning/hygiene products etc

Will be brought up with all the emotional tools to start them off the best I can ( which I never had)

Respect for yourself.

DD is besotted with her very nice boyfriend but still managed to say to him “I love you and want very much to be with you but I don’t need you. Your job is to make me want to be with you”. I am so proud of her.

And she has bailed up hulking mates when they have behaved badly.

And, yes, she is aware this all works both ways but he isn’t stupid. He knows he is lucky to have her.

If living away from good reliable and readily available public transport .. the driving is essential . I prioritised this for all of mine . It's not cheap initially but worth it ..

Time management
Sticking to your word

Apologising every time I’m wrong. Listening. Never undervalue the time you have with them, you don’t have to enjoy every minute, but give them your time. Play/interact and show interest in things they enjoy and are passionate about.

Assertiveness
Resilience
Excellent reading, writing, numerical and computer skills
Driving licence
Personal and household finances
Organisational and planning skills