Life Skills Your Kid Needs to Learn Before Leaving Home

There are plenty of life skills your teenager can learn by living with you. And now since they are likely out of school — you have more opportunities to teach them. The problem is, sometimes it can seem like too much of a challenge to teach them. This is especially true when you’re a busy working parent — especially if you are working from home — who just wants to get stuff done.

However, remember that when you had kids you took on this responsibility and it’s your job to turn out adults onto the world who know how to do things. The good news is, if you start early, they’ll at least know what they are supposed to do by the time they’re in high school. Getting them on autopilot to do the right thing all the time is a challenge — those teen brains and all — but it is a comfort to be able to see them handling life skills more regularly as they grow up!

Household Chores

Knowing how to run a household should be something all kids learn from their parents. The worst thing you can do as a parent is not teaching your child basic skills like how to do their laundry, how and when to clean things, and how to fix a basic meal. This won’t take long if you start young. Kids can handle a lot more than you think at a younger age.

Basic Money Management

Sharing that you have a budget, and then helping your teen make their own budget, will help them understand more about money management. For example, if you only make minimum wage, you really cannot afford sports cars or big houses. Most kids don’t really know how much money it takes to live in any fashion.

Personal Care

Teaching teenagers how to take care of their basic personal care and healthcare is a great lesson to learn. Most college students don’t even know how to find a doctor, much less call and make an appointment. They don’t how much the co-pay is or how that will affect the rest of their budget. Teaching your child how to do these things will go far in their adult lives to prepare them for life without their parents always standing nearby.

Basic First Aid

A teenager should understand how to do basic first aid and what to do in an emergency. If you’re not sure yourself, let them get certified via the Red Cross for basic first aid and CPR. This is going to be a good lesson for them and serve them well no matter what they’re doing.

It’s important to teach them how much food and money they really need each day. Therefore, your child will go out into the world knowing what it takes to just live in a household or dorm. So many teenagers AND adults don’t. Think about how much debt some kids get into once they enter college. This understanding is going to make a huge difference in their lives.