Life Skills for Teens

I had my chore list for up to 13, but I was floundering for non-academic things I needed to teach them after 13. A friend asked me for my list with this title. (That meant I had to make one!) This will change for each kid and I'll hopefully add many resources, but here's my start....

Social Skills

• € telephone answering & taking a message
• € initiating a conversation & small talk
• € eye contact & confident body language
• € conversation skills : listening, responding, not interrupting, appropriate volume & content for situation
• € Manners - Table and otherwise
• € How not to be quite so devastatingly honest
• € How to say no without losing friends.

Academic Skills

• € Public speaking
• € being able to write a solid paper
• € being able to manage a project himself
• € read maps
• € plan routes
• € Computer : typing & familiarity with Word, Excel, Powerpoint & Publisher
• € Organizational skills for that child's learning style : planning, time management, prioritizing, follow-through
• € cooperative learning skills

Personal Skills

• € independent cooking
• € Laundry - how to wash/iron/mend clothes
• € cleaning
• € basic home repair
• € gardening/lawn work
• € run a household for a week: including meals, housekeeping, and caring for small children
• € Plan and pack for an overnight or a four week trip
• € first aid
• € How to mail packages.
• € How to renew a passport.
• € Personal safety, Self-defense 27min

Auto Skills

• € Change oil, a flat
• € Check tire pressure, radiator fluid
• € How to pump gas, jump a battery
• € What do do in case of an accident
• € Snow Driving

Financial Skills

• € Manage Finances - set & live with a budget
• € how to use a credit card BEFORE going away to college
• € understand : mortgages, car payments, investing, common mistakes
• € Shopping - online, at the store, with a budget and goal in mind

College Skills

• € To look assess one's work and ask for help if needed -involves reading a syllabus, figuring out percentages (so you know how much a particular assignment is going to affect a final grade), and tracking grades -Ability to analyze a test and figure out which bits are understood and which bits need more work -know about office hours
• € Tying stuff on the roof of a car
• € How to take a tray through a cafeteria line
• € Putting your name and phone number on the inside of all your books and notebooks and anything else you want returned to you if you leave it laying around
• € How to get home, if need be (train, bus, plane)
• € How to take a taxi if the designated driver didn't stay designated
• € How to limit your electronic social life and game playing so it doesn't interfere with your ability to open your laptop and do your work
• € How to play foozeball or pingpong or hackysack or some of the other games that tend to lurk in the bottom of dorms
• € How to ski or rockclimb or whatever other pastime one's friends in college are likely to want to go do that might possibly lead to a broken leg when first tried in the presence of new friends