Life Skills

When we were in Bangkok last week, the hotel served pancakes for breakfast and C LOVED it! So we thought to make our very own pancakes for breakfast this morning. C helped with mixing the eggs, milk and flour.

C busy whisking the eggs.

Gently stirring in the flour after adding milk,
vanilla essence and molasses.

Topping off the pancakes with Maple Syrup!
Yummy!

C even helped me with my coffee!

Helping herself to the pancakes.

Delicious! Two thumbs up!

C does get a great sense of satisfaction when she helps out in various tasks. A while ago, I had come across a quotation by Ann Landers, quoted below.

I really do agree with it very much, and equipping our children with life skills even at an early age is important. Here's a list of simple life skills that even our children can learn at a young age.

• Dressing themselves
• Helping with the laundry
• Cleaning the house
• Preparing their own meals

Dressing themselves:

Learning to put on and take off their own clothes is part of our children gaining independence. I started C off with simple pullovers and pants, before proceeding to different types of buttons and zippers.

Stud buttons that easily snap on or off.

Zippers.

Regular buttons that require fine motor skills.

Putting on her socks before wearing her own shoes is also one of the tasks she can handle easily now. Whenever we return home, she also understands to take them off and place them nicely in her laundry basket.

C is also into lacing activities that will prep her for wearing shoes with laces in future.

I laminated the printouts to make them durable.

To reinforce the holes punched out, I used seal
stickers as shown in the picture below.

Tools needed to make the lacing activities.
Just add on an old pair of shoelaces and you
are all set!

C having a go at this lacing activity.
The spider web was her idea!

You can download the lacing activities here: Lacing Fun!

Helping with the laundry:

C is extremely happy to help with sorting out clothes from the dryer. Younger kids can be assigned to sort out socks into matching pairs.

Sorting out socks into pairs.

Placing folded clothes into her own wardrobe.

Cleaning the house:

Tidying up after play is something that C had been taught since she was much younger. As with most kids, she needs reminding once in a while. But it is a simple duty that young kids can do to help keep the house clean and tidy. Toys can be stored in boxes that are labelled for easy keeping.

Another chore that C loves to help out with is wiping down low shelves with a tiny cloth. She has even tried mopping and vacuuming the floor! Children can really be a good help if they are allowed the chance!

Preparing their own meals:

Kids are really enthusiastic about being able to help in the kitchen as well, and when they prepare their own meals, they definitely feel proud and tend to be more keen in eating the food they prepared! 

Young children can help to spread butter or cream cheese on slices of bread, or help in the simple mixing of ingredients like eggs and flour. Any mess can be cleaned up, but the experiences our children learn for themselves are definitely worth it!

Meanwhile, this list is still growing as C discovers she can do a lot more things on her own in future!