Over the course of their lives, your child will come to learn many things form you and from other influential people in their life. From driving a car to the sex talk to traits like empathy and honesty, being a parent is about imparting knowledge onto your child and trying to make sure that they absorb the most positive parts of your personality and knowledge while leaving out the bad.

While you can’t guarantee that you will only teach your child positive habits, there are some things that are important to teach your child while they’re young. These formative skills will help them through the years in a multitude of ways, allowing them to expand their skills and find their passions.

With so much for children to learn in our fast-paced, high-tech world, you may feel overwhelmed with what to teach them. We believe that some of the most important skills you can teach your kids are about hands-on, real-world skills that will help them feel more confident in the world.

Here are eight of the most important things you must teach your child in the early years:

  1.     Growing a plant

If you don’t live on a farm, you may be wondering why this is such an important skill for young children to learn. However, teaching your child to grow a plant isn’t just about farming, it’s about life skills. Gardening allows your child to learn about things like responsibility since if they neglect or don’t care for the plant, it will wither up and die. Gardening also helps teach cause and effect, since they will soon be able to see the positive effects of their positive attention.

Gardening also helps encourage confidence, a love of nature, and the joy of physical activity. All things that will help your child grow into a healthy, happy, well-rounded adult.

  1.     Doing the Laundry

While we all may dread it, it’s a good thing we know how to do it! Doing the laundry is one of those invaluable life skills that you should teach your child at a young age. Teaching your child to do their own laundry will help them appreciate their things and learn how to care for them. If they love a T-shirt, they will better understand the worth of caring for it if they need to wash it. Doing their own laundry will also teach responsibility since if they don’t do their laundry, they’ll end up with no clothes to wear!

Eventually, your child will have to learn to do their own laundry, but it’s more likely that they will focus more closely and be more willing to take on the task at a young age then when they’re sullen teenagers getting ready for college.

  1.     Hammering a nail

While it might seem disconcerting to think of your child with a real nail and hammer, it’s such an important and valuable skill that we encourage you to try it anyway. Under supervision, your child is actually quite safe with a hammer and nail. It will also help them expand their creative interests, give them confidence, and help teach them hand-eye coordination.

While there is a chance they could bump their thumb with the hammer, woodworking will help teach your child to respect tools, hard work, and hone their fine motor skills.

  1.     The basics of cooking

College students being inept at cooking is such a common sight that we rarely even notice it anymore, but that doesn’t need to be the case! Teaching your children to cook is such a vital life skill that we think it should be right up there with potty training.

Don’t wait until you feel comfortable with leaving your child alone in the kitchen to involve them in cooking. Encourage them to join you in the kitchen to watch you chop veggies. Give them a peeler and a potato to try their hand at. As time goes on, bring them closer to the stove or get them to choose recipes to try. Cooking will not only keep your child well-fed when they move out, it will also help them appreciate you more while they live under your roof.

  1.     Potty Training

This one is a given, but proper potty training is very important. Many parents wait too long to start teaching their child or suffer lots of relapses. In reality, potty training can be a quick and relatively painless experience for you and your child. Use the expertise of the online world to help you by going to https://bloglingo.com/potty-training/ and reading up on some tips.

If you can help your child become familiar with the signs that they need to do to the bathroom, you will also help them become more confident, feel more grown up, and gain body confidence.

  1.     Cleaning

Teaching your child to properly clean space is a valuable life lesson that you will also be very thankful for. While it might be second nature for parents to pick up after their kids, you should start encouraging your child to clean their own messes as soon as they happen. From tidying their toys to putting away their clothes, to even cleaning the bathroom, teaching your child what a clean space looks like, how to sanitize things, and when it needs to happen will help them become a more productive member of the family and will also teach them self-sufficiency as they grow older.

  1.     Treating a scrape

While you may still run to kiss your child’s boo boo’s now, this is also a good time to start teaching them how to assess, clean and treat a scrape or injury. Teaching basic first aid to your child will allow them to care for themselves more and to better assess just how injured they are when they fall. Instead of screaming over the pain, they will have a plan of action they can put in place, which will help them feel more in control when they’re hurting.

  1.     Read a map

Does this seem like outdated information? Trust us, it’s not! That voice-guided GPS won’t always be working, which is why it’s important that your child knows how to read a map and a compass. Navigation will help your child if they are ever camping or lost, and it will also help instill a sense of adventure in them.

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