Development and stimulation from an early age brings multiple benefits to the growth and future of girls and boys learning disabilities tutoring near me. Next, we teach you what life skills are and how to take advantage of every everyday moment to strengthen them.
To grow up healthy and happy, boys and girls need a variety of tools that go far beyond what they are taught in the classroom. These are the so-called life skills : a set of personal, interpersonal and critical thinking skills that girls, boys and adolescents need to lead a productive and satisfactory life in all dimensions of life, according to their stage of development.
These skills can range from self-awareness to empathy and emotion management and begin to develop in early childhood and continue to strengthen throughout a person's life, allowing them to manage their thoughts, feelings and expressions in everyday life.
In 2017, World Vision conducted a study on life skills with children and adolescents in its programs, identifying that only 32% of girls and boys had developed functional literacy , that is, the ability to not only understand what they read but to be able to apply it in everyday life. In the same study, it was found that the level of figurative expression, understood as the capacity for symbolic expression of thoughts and feelings, was far below what was expected for the age in both girls and boys and adolescents; The same thing happened with the management of emotions.
When are life skills developed?
At World Vision, three stages have been defined for the development of life skills:
Fundamental skills: these are consolidated approximately in the first five years of life and are the most important, since they are the starting point for developing the others. At this stage, for example, a girl or boy is expected to have perception, motor, rhythm and language skills.
Essential skills : It is developed between 6 and 11 years old, where the girl or boy is expected to consolidate skills to memorize, analyze, make decisions, solve problems and develop empathy, among others.
Applied skills: they are developed during adolescence and include the ability to set goals, decision making, healthy lifestyles, stress management, resilience, citizenship, leadership and entrepreneurship. At this point it is important to highlight that in order for the applied skills to be obtained, it is essential to have acquired those corresponding to the two previous stages. Hence the importance of stimulating these skills from birth.
Why are life skills important?
Mainly, because life is full of obstacles and challenges and because we do not live alone. Life skills guarantee resilience , not only to face the challenges of everyday life but to overcome setbacks that may arise. On the other hand, they contribute to social improvement by creating new family habits and alternative parenting models for new generations of mothers and fathers. Also, life skills – commonly known as “soft” skills in the business world – contribute to better job opportunities, as they are above technical and professional skills (known as “hard” skills).
5 tips to develop life skills
Teaching life skills is achieved by taking advantage of the opportunities that occur in everyday life that can contribute to their development and strengthening.
Below, we show you five examples to apply with girls and boys, especially in the initial stages of development.
To play!: This idea may be the simplest, but it is one of the most powerful because it is the means by which girls and boys learn, model and rehearse situations that they will later face in real life. To achieve this, time and space must be provided for them to play freely, ideally with situations that challenge them to use their imagination and creativity, where they not only passively receive information, but are active protagonists of the game. With the new “digital native” generations, for example, look for video games or technological activities that challenge them to create something, do something, solve problems, and not just mechanical and monotonous activities.
Get to work: All artistic disciplines (theater, painting, music, dance, literature, etc.) are magnificent opportunities for the development of life skills because they do so in a comprehensive way, and provide opportunities to develop thoughts and feelings. For example, theater contributes to the skills of attention and concentration, emotional management and empathy, as well as the exercise of creativity.
Early stimulation: as mentioned before, one of the critical stages for the development of life skills is early childhood, so early stimulation becomes an ally to guarantee the development of the essential and applied skills that are they acquire later. The Ministry of Public Education has developed a guide with advice to stimulate different cognitive, sensory, motor and emotional skills in the initial stage.
What do you like to do most? Knowing the interests and hobbies of your daughters and sons and offering them spaces and opportunities to explore (such as groups, clubs, sports teams) will allow them, in adolescence, to explore professional vocations and labor.
Information is power: although this is a fashionable topic, sometimes we are not aware of the importance of permanent learning of life skills, and we provide fewer spaces and opportunities to consolidate. It is vital that mothers, fathers and adults who care for or work with children and adolescents can be informed about what life skills are, how they are defined and how they can be developed or strengthened.
CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, psychosocial skills – for life – are those that allow a person to face demands and challenges in all their dimensions, as well as maintain their comprehensive well-being, which, in the short, medium and long term, will result in behaviors positive and adaptive. Although a certain vagueness can be perceived when talking about life skills, the majority of studies and professional disciplines that work on the subject agree that these have to do with decision making, critical thinking, interpersonal relationships, empathy and emotional management.
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