8 Valuable Life Skills to Teach Your Kids During Quarantine

During quarantine, there’s so much to teach your children. But even if you can’t help them with their schoolwork and looking at their math problems makes you go cross-eyed, you can still teach them a lot of valuable skills.

Learning about math, science, English, social studies, and other school subjects gives kids the foundations they need, but when focusing on academic subjects, some life skills may be overlooked. With kids at home, now is the perfect time to teach them some of these often overlooked skills that can help make their lives so much easier.

Cooking

Knowing how to cook can help set up your child to prepare healthy, satisfying meals in years to come. Most children can help with some steps in the cooking process. Not only that, but many of the steps involved in cooking can reinforce academic skills. For instance, measuring ingredients uses math, while the cooking process illustrates scientific principles.

Cleaning

Maintaining a clean living space is important, but many children only know how to put their toys away. Teaching kids more cleaning skills, like how to dust or how to use the vacuum, can prepare them to clean more thoroughly… and it could make your life a little easier in the long run.

Doing Laundry

Between clothes, sheets, and towels, there’s never a shortage of laundry to do. Luckily, kids can help. You can teach your kids the process of sorting lights and darks and explain how to wash and dry the laundry. Appropriate tasks vary between age groups, but many children can help with sorting the laundry, folding it, and putting it away.

Sewing

Basic sewing skills can help you extend the wearable life of a garment by being able to mend it. You may want to keep younger children away from needles, but you can still show them the process and explain what you’re doing. Older children who have strong fine motor skills may enjoy sewing.

Fixing Things

Have something in your house you’ve been meaning to fix? If you have the skills to do it, you might show your child how. While it may be easier to do it on your own, teaching your child these skills may help them do their own repairs one day.

Grocery Shopping (Only Online)

Shopping for groceries can be overwhelming even for adults. It can be tempting to grab whatever appeals to you at the moment, which may lead to a very imbalanced diet. If you’re placing orders online for delivery or pickup, this is a great opportunity to have your child help. You could discuss budgeting, prioritizing, and menu planning. And since you’re shopping from the comfort of your home, there’s plenty of time to answer any questions your kids have without blocking the aisle of a grocery store.

Gardening

Do you have a garden? Even if it’s only a small garden, this would be a great time to get your children involved. Many children enjoy planting and harvesting from a garden. You can also teach your children important details, like how deep to plant different seeds and how to tell when something is ready to pick.

Scheduling

Being able to decide what to do when is a valuable skill, but most children have their entire schedules decided for them. You might teach them scheduling skills by discussing what they have to do during the day and helping them come up with a set schedule that helps them accomplish their goals.

You know your kids best, so make sure any lessons or activities are safe and age-appropriate for your children. Some of these skills may be easier for older children to learn, but you can also find ways to help younger kids develop basic skills. For instance, an older child might be able to help do the laundry, while a younger child might help by putting matching socks together.

What life lessons are you teaching your children during lockdown? Let us know in the comments section below!