(Air1 Closer Look) – Someday your kids will get their own house or apartment. “Do they know how to take care of that environment?” asks Sarah McCubbin, lifestyle blogger and mother of nine. Basics like cleaning and laundry certainly make her checklist, but her lessons on adulthood are more than mere chores. “We don’t actually assume they’ll learn how to tie their shoes on their own,” she observes, “but we assume they’ll figure out how to make friends on their own – some really struggle.” Confirming that children learn how to navigate the social maze is her passion.
“We intentionally teach Math, English and Science and History,” she notes, but “lifeskills are building blocks of knowledge that help us navigate life.”
Click to hear our full Closer Look conversation with Sarah McCubbin about essential lifeskills for kids.
Her experience with her own kids has been positive, even when met with resistance, at first. Victory was in the approach.
“It's not something that parents have to drill down and kind of pressure them into feeling motivated – like, ‘if you don't learn this right now you won't be successful in life’ -- well that's too vague,” she says. But asking instead, ‘do you want to learn how to ask good questions so you can make more friends next week or tomorrow or on the playground?’ - yes that is something that they want to learn right now,” she assures.
“The interest follows naturally because it's relevant.”
McCubbin's thoughts on helping kids transition to adulthood came from her own experience as a brand-new grown up. “That was my aha moment, when I was about 20 years old – that I could have conversations with strangers, if I just asked questions.” The sooner a child can learn how to communicate with confidence, the better they will manage money, their jobs and their own households.
“This journey of raising our kids, teaching these skills, it doesn't have to look perfect to be good -- we can teach them these skills and the mistakes can be part of the process.”
