13 Things We Need To Teach Our Teens
In the wake of the tragedy of this week, I have been thinking. We know that we need to equip our teens with tools and know how to make in the real world, but often those skills are things like balancing the check book, basic cooking skills or how to do their laundry. All of these things are important, but are we forgetting some key skills as parents and as a society? I think we are.
Here are thirteen things I think are just as important as knowing how to boil water:
- You can’t always be first
- You can’t always win
- Not everything in life will be easy
- How to deal with bullies, mean people and rude people
- How to cope with the end of a relationship or break up
- How to resolve a dispute with a teacher, boss or other superior
- We all make mistakes and can learn from them
- How to ask for help
- Signs that a friend or loved one may be suffering (from an addiction, depression, etal)
- How to make decisions by weighing pros and cons
- Not all gratification can be instant - some things are worth the wait
- Everyone has something to contribute to society - it just might take a little exploration
- How to be a good friend
What did I miss? Do you know of other essential life skills that you think today’s kids are missing?
For more Thursday Thirteen posts, visit the main Thursday Thirteen hub. Did you do a TT post? Be sure to leave me a comment so I can come visit your site, too.
And I already found one I missed -
Just because you like/love someone, they may not necessarily like/love you back. There just isn’t much you can do about it, so move on.
Char, I was pondering what we do to and for our children, our sons in particular, over at Solomother. Rory posted some interesting stuff quoted from Raising Cain in the comments. Worth the read.
Good list. At the risk of being trite - Life is not fair! Sometimes the good guys win and sometimes the bad guys win. It’s not your fault when the latter happens.
Thanks for visiting my TT.
Amazing list, and I think all of the above are very important lessons. Dealing with mean/rude people is something I always had a difficult time doing (mainly because they’d get my feelings so hurt).
One important thing I want to teach my son when he’s a teenager is how to treat the opposite sex with the respect they deserve. I think so many teens and adults fail to do that, so we should definitely be making a change in the next generation!
Christina #1 - I stopped in at your post and it was right on the money! Thanks for your insight.
Denise - you are right - life isn’t fair, but we all have to find ways to deal with it that don’t involve lashing out at the world.
Christina #2 - How to treat the opposite sex is such an important skill. Unfortunately we are what we learn and if the adults in the child’s life set bad examples, it just doesn’t help!
This is a great post. Came here from Babblz, and voted.
Good stuff.
Kat - thanks for stopping in! I am a big Babblz fan too!
All good things to remember..I hope I teach my children those one day
Amys Random THoughts is having a blogging Scavenger Hunt starting May 1st. Details were announced today. Don’t you want to participate?
Great list. Here’s another to add to the list: “The world doesn’t revolve around you.”
Those are nice, thanks! Life is not fair is something I constantly try to get through my children’s heads.
You hit a homerun with this one! mine is up!
Good list, just as long as you don’t wait until they are teens to start the lessons!
My TT13 is up at http://anyapples.blogspot.com/
Great TT.
I would add that Politeness is cool. Being a positive role model is contagious.
Be well and enjoy the day
Great list. Thanks for shating & Happy TT!
Sorry for the typo error.
Thanks for SHARING!
There should be something about not bullying. Trust me when you are bullied to the extreme every day you stop caring about the life lessons you have learned. Something needs to be done to stop the bully side, not just the victim side. Life may not be fair, but everyone should have a right to not live in fear every day, and not cry themselves to sleep every night.
Parents and teachers also need to take measures to prevent bullying of their kids. They are forced to go to school everyday, they need to be protected.
As a mother of two teens, I would add: don’t deal with sad feelings with drugs or alcohol; choose friends who support you as much as you support them.
Also, typo alert: I think you mean in #11 “wait” not “weight.”
Hi Char.. thanks for alerting me about the wrong info in my blog. I’m glad to stumble upon this Thursday 13!
“Worth the WEIGHT”????? Didn’t the weary parent mean “worth the wait”???? Oh, well, she was too weary.
Thank you to all my editors! Yes, there is a typo in there and yes, I probably was a bit weary at that point. Apologies for the error. But I am human so I am not going back in to fix it.
Have a great weekend!
Gee whiz. Char, I noticed the error, but didn’t say anything because it wasn’t a big deal. If I wrote notes about all the errors I see on the internet, I’d be a busy person. Glad you’re human!
- too much of a good thing is not a good thing
- all credit is bad credit
- live for today, not tomorrow
- listen to old people, they’ve made all the mistakes you are going to
Just some off the top of my head. Nice list btw have a beer on me :))
# Not all gratification can be instant - some things are worth the weight is your number 11…
It would be worth the wait, if someone would either use their brain or spellcheck…
Sorry for the mistake Mark - I already apologized for it up a few comments. Unfortunately these things get past me from time to time.
Hope you stop back in again.
Gee whiz people. Get off her back. It was one spelling error. I’ve seen spelling errors on the news, in magazines, and more. And even if she had used spellcheck, it wouldn’t have caught the “weight” vs “wait”.
Honestly Char, you are nicer than me!!!!
Congrats, this post has been nominated for Hot Stuff Of The Week over at our site, GNMParents - Good luck in the voting!
Thanks Stu Mark! I am in great company.
This would be on a list of 13 things to teach our teenage sons … but I really feel we need to teach our sons how to be an equal partner in relationships - times have changed and too many of our sons are still growing up thinking their partner/wife will work full time and do it all .
Also we need to teach our teenagers to give unselfishly - with NO expectation of recognition or award. This is true giving - and those who master this life skill are those who succeed in life, work and relationships.
Amazing list…I find there isn’t enough things we could teach our kids to be prepared for the world…
you need to make sure that your teenager know his/her friends, which friends are good or whichfriends could turn around one day and stab you in the back. friends are one of the most important things in a teenager’s life. friends are always wonderfull, but make sure you know who are you REAL friends, the ones that are there for you.
-Sometimes you just need to shut up and let things, people, situations, whatever be the way they are.
- learn to leave the bullshit behind.
- go outside!!!!