There are different categories of skills children should be introduced to. In this post, we share 4 of such.
- Science/tech-based skills such as coding, fixing electronic and mechanical devices, etc.
- Arts-based skills such as drawing, painting, sewing, writing, speaking, debating, playing the piano, etc.
- Physical/sports skills such as playing soccer, swimming, basketball, etc.
- Business-based skills such as negotiation, advocacy, play jobs like paying them for doing house chores as kids, getting a job when they can work legally, etc.
Here are 5 reasons why kids should be introduced to at least 2 of these different categories of skills before they turn 18.
To get a good understanding of their strengths and abilities
By introducing kids to these different categories of skills, as the parent, you get to know their underlying strengths and abilities. Each of the 4 different categories of skills usually require abilities that anyone wishing to excel in them must have.
For example, for a child to excel in a science-based skill such as coding, the child would have good problem-solving skills. They’ll be able be able to bring pieces of knowledge here and there, join them, and voila, they have solutions. Such child would also be persistent. They are focused and patient when they enter their curiosity and problem-solving mode.
So as a parent that registered your child for a coding class, after a while, say 1 or 2 years, one thing is likely. If the child excels in it, you’ll definitely have a better understanding of your child’s areas of strength.
Help kids and you (the parent) choose a course for them in college
This reason builds upon the previous reason.
Having discovered the particular skills your child has excelled in due to being exposed to at least 2 of the 4 categories of skills, choosing a course with them or for them in college should come easily.
If your child excelled in a science-based skill, then they’ll be a good fit for science and engineering courses. Did they well in art-based skills? Courses in humanities may be a good fit for them. If they did well in business-based skills, social science courses may be a likely choice for them. Examples of such courses are political science and economics.
It even gets better when they excelled in more than one of these skill areas as kids. Maybe when they started learning these skills, say around 8 years of age. By the time they were 16, you as the parent had ensured they learned all 4 and you noticed they were good at 2 or 3. Choosing a course for college even becomes easier (or difficult in an exciting way due to liking one course but having to drop another one which you also like).
Give them a head start in life
While in college and even after college, the learning and experience your kids have picked will kick in. If they finally read a course in college that aligns to their strengths, it will show during class lectures, classwork, and assignments/projects. They would definitely have a better and more practical grasp of learning concepts, as compared to their mates.
Also, while schooling, they can even be working by the side. For example, say they learned coding as teenagers and grew well in it. At 18, while in college reading a coding-based course like Computer Science, they can be working by the side.
This is also the same after college. Even if they didn’t read a course that built on the strength they honed when they pursued skills as kids and teens, after college, the mix of these childhood strengths plus the learning they gained in college becomes helpful.
Give them an alternative career in the future
Or you can say “a future of options”.
It’s very exciting to always have career options. For reasons best know to you or your kids, after college and some years of working in the field they studied in college, they could switch careers. The skills they learned as kids could kick in.
Here’s something interesting.
Now, for reasons of “kids being kids”, at times, when they were learning the skill, they may not have seen the importance and taken the lessons serious. I mean, what does an 8-year-old know? But now, as a 24-year-old college graduate, with 2 years of experience in a field they realize is not a good fit them, they get to grasp the importance of the skill they learned as a child. With a few “brush up” and certification courses, they can easily switch careers.
Encourage you as the parent to keep trying in case they don’t learn or excel in one skill
This is the last reason. Reason 5 why kids should be introduced to at least 2 of these categories of skills before they turn 18. To encourage you the parent.
As a parent, it is discouraging for you to want your kid to pursue a certain type of skill, spend some resources to make the child learn it, but the child doesn’t. Don’t be discouraged!
After trying everything you can to make the child like and learn, if you don’t succeed, try another. Keep trying until the child finally likes and does well in it.
