Children life skills and how to develop them

Its greatest value is that it emphasizes the attention of parents and teachers to the importance of maintaining a balance in the child's education and upbringing of vital skills. So what are the four "pillars" of learning? And what are the vital children life skills for each child to develop?

Learning to Know - the ability to know

Teaching children to learn about the world on their own and helping to develop this skill is the main task of parents and teachers. This approach involves the development of children's skills to independently search for the necessary information and knowledge, to develop the ability to think critically and be inquisitive. This will create a foundation for future lifelong learning.

First of all, it is necessary to convey to the child that if in the future he wants to work effectively in only a few narrow areas of knowledge and skills, he must have a very wide range of general knowledge. This is required by the globalization of society and the development of the knowledge economy.

The second important point is to teach the child to learn independently, to instill in him the understanding that he will have to learn all his life. To develop the skill of self-learning, the time allotted for self-preparation works effectively, as well as the introduction of elements of day planning and tasks for self-implementation, reflection, assessment of progress by the child. The latter, by the way, helps children a lot in maintaining their intrinsic motivation to learn and curiosity. When they realize that they have a way forward, there is an enthusiasm to move on.

You should also spend a lot of time developing the child's critical thinking. In our school we do it like this: we try not to give ready answers to students immediately. We ask them many guiding questions and help them come up with answers on their own. This approach deeply develops the skills of independent search and analysis of the necessary information.

Learning to Do - the ability to act

It is necessary to support in children the desire to do and create, to work in different social conditions, showing independence, independence of judgment and personal responsibility. In fact, this pillar of learning - about the need for practical application of the child's any knowledge and skills, the development of his creative thinking and personal responsibility for the result through action. The child had to know about any process or phenomenon in theory. He learns effectively only when he uses or tests knowledge in practice, in real life.

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To develop this skill, we use two main approaches. The first is to update the topic or problem in class. It all starts with leading questions. For example, "Why does an airplane fly?" or "Why do the leaves turn yellow in autumn? Children begin to think, to suggest ideas, to put forward hypotheses, which we "park" on the board and then "go" into theory to test together which of their hypotheses is suitable for explaining the process and which is not.

The second approach is for children to work on projects. It is effective because for children it is the practical implementation of knowledge, the development of problem-solving and problem-solving skills, decision-making and responsibility for the result. In this case, it is important for teachers not to answer questions, but to accompany the process, show prospects and give children the right to choose. Children begin to feel responsible for the outcome of their choices and actions, and more importantly, to calmly accept mistakes as part of the learning process. In addition, it is in this process that creative thinking is born.

Learning to Live Together - the ability to interact with others

We need to teach children to live in society, create joint projects and unite for a common goal, develop empathy and self-leadership (ability to control themselves). It is very important to develop in the child the ability to build harmonious relationships, work in a team, communicate, respect the diversity of the world around them, as well as understand and accept the values ‹‹of others.

The child must understand that school is a reflection of real life, in which there is both friendship and the struggle for leadership, support, conflict, competition, as well as coordinated teamwork. And children must be taught to act in any situation from the standpoint of cooperation, mutual respect and a deep understanding of universal values. Therefore, we practice special classes on values ‹‹and nonviolent communication. In them, children learn to understand the feelings and needs of others, to communicate openly, to interact with important adults. Philosophy lessons and debates are useful for children from the age of 9.

To instill in a child a collaborative culture, an important example is adults who are important to children. Children adopt our role models even without additional conversations on these topics. Therefore, it is important to be a good example for them.

Learning to Be - the ability to live in harmony with yourself

It is important to help children find their way to themselves, to learn to live in such a way as to promote the prosperity of their personality. This pillar of 4 pillars of education emphasizes the importance of helping the child in self-knowledge, self-development as a person and the search for their own uniqueness.

Its second important message is in the balanced development of the child's mind, body and spirit. If a child, under pressure from family or school, develops an imbalance in the "intellectual-physical-spiritual" triad, he begins to get sick. It is important to instill a culture of healthy eating, drinking water, exercise, yoga. Develop a state of awareness, concentration and attentiveness. Also important for children is space for experimentation and self-knowledge. These can be creative studios, various formats of free communication.

4 pillars of education is at the same time a simple and very deep holistic concept. Each of the four "pillars" is equally important and balances the other three. Therefore, the main message is balance. But the tools for the implementation of the tasks of each of the pillars, the family can choose independently, "for themselves."