Monday, May 13, 2019

4 Things Parents Should Teach Their Kids That Most Schools Won't

A simple lemonade stand can teach so many great lessons to kids!
With public and private schools providing such comprehensive curriculums, it can be easy to fall under the impression that you can send your kid to school and never have to teach them anything at home. However, taking a hands-off approach to your child's education could result in them lacking certain fundamental knowledge that they'll need when they get older. With that said, here are four subjects you should teach your kid at home to make sure they're ready to be successful and secure in life:

1. Home Improvement and Building


While many schools will teach home economic classes, there's really no set framework for teaching kids how to do simple home improvement tasks around the house. You may want to consider constructing a shed or workshop on your property to give your kids a designated space to tinker with tools and building projects. You could accomplish this easily with the steel building kits from Armstrong Steel, which simplify the process of assembling durable and versatile buildings of all sizes.

2. Financial Management and Credit


Let's face it, most schools are severely lacking in their curriculum related to financial management and credit building. This information is usually learned at the bank or at home when the student reaches an age where they're able to utilize their credit for the first time. Unfortunately, many young adults are blind-sided by an abundance of responsibility after being approved for their first credit card. Teaching your kids financial management at a young age will give them an economic head start that most other children are not equipped with at public or private schools. 

3. Emergency Survival Techniques


While you can enroll your kids in the local boy scouts or girl scouts to teach them basic wilderness skills, this information is not usually taught at a conventional school. Take your little ones on a camping trip and show them basic survival techniques like how to start a fire, astrological navigation, finding food, purifying water, and building basic shelter. You'd think that such fundamental concepts would be taught at a young age, yet there are many adults who still don't know how to do these things.

4. Entrepreneurship


While making money is clearly the most important adult duty, there's surprisingly little focus on building wealth in the conventional school system. Students are not taught about founding startups, gathering funding from investors, obtaining business loans, or any other basic concepts that are required to successfully launch a business. Teach your children these topics at home, and they'll be well-prepared to obtain financial freedom later in life.

Prepare Your Kids for the Real World at a Young Age


In today's world, most kids are severely sheltered and undereducated about topics that actually matter in everyday life. Unfortunately, a significant percentage of high schoolers and college students are awakened to a harsh reality when they have to learn a bunch of adult life management skills that should arguably be taught in schools. 


Of course, once you get into university courses and degree programs, you can learn anything in the world, but in many ways the average high school graduate is still grossly under-equipped to deal with the challenges of being a young adult. Make an effort to teach your kids some of the topics mentioned above and they'll be much better off for it.