My SD Moms As a parent it is our job to make sure that we prepare our children for their inevitable journey into the real world for someday when they fly the coop. There are so many things that we think we are 
just born knowing, but that’s not true at all. At some point, someone somewhere taught us these life skills we have hopefully honed as adults. Probably your parents, or legal guardians as you were growing up. Some of these daily, typical skills sounds so simple and you’ve been doing them for so long that you don’t even think about it as your doing them.
Are you ready to stop helicopter parenting and prepare your kid for life as a young adult? Julie Lythcott-Haims, former dean of freshmen at Stanford University and author of “How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success, says these are 12 important life skills that every child should know before high school.
Make a Meal
You don’t have to stop making meals for your kids entirely, but it’s important for them to feel confident enough to know how to do it. Maybe start with them making breakfast for themselves a couple times a week or on the weekends. Let them help with dinner, or let them make their own lunch for school.
Wake Themselves up on Time
This is a really tough one because it’s rough enough trying to get these kids out of bed banging a stick on a trash can. Now we have to trust that they are going to get themselves up. Again, the best way to do this is to baby step it. Start maybe a couple times a week…not completely letting go of the rains just yet. But make sure that by the time high school rolls around, they should be able to get up and get ready by themselves.
Do Laundry
Not only will this be an important life skill, but I guarantee it will show them just how busy you have been washing their clothes every 10 minutes. They will probably stop tossing shirts in the laundry after wearing them once for 3 hours.
Pump Gas
This was an exciting one for me when I was a kid. It looked so interesting when my Dad was at the gas station pumping gas into the car. The smells, the cool looking gas pump – not to mention the thought of someday your going to get to drive that car! I don’t think you will have a problem with this one. If you do have a child that has dirty hand or germ phobia’s, assure them with baby wipes and antibiotic hand wash.
Pitch In
“Kids need to learn how to contribute for the betterment of the whole,” she says. “Maybe they have siblings and one is stressed out about something, and the other says, ‘I’ll do your chore for you. Because I see you’re stressed out and you need some help.’ That’s building a sense of it’s not just about me. I can do for others.”
To read the rest of the important life skills…CLICK HERE.
