What do you mean by Life Skills?
Life skills are the primary skills that allow individuals to tackle the complications and hardships of life efficiently. These soft skills prepare individuals for real-world challenges and make them adept, pragmatic and adaptable. Literacy is paramount, but the development of psycho-social skills is also vital to assist individuals in becoming prolific and potent members of their communities. Investment in childhood learning has a profound impact on future growth and advancement. Therefore, inculcating critical skills in children is imperative to help them keep pace with this dynamic and evolving world of the 21st Century.
Why is it important to inculcate Life Skills?
Critical Life Skills like decision-making, problem-solving, self-awareness, empathy, interpersonal relationship, stress management, time management, emotion control, critical thinking, creative thinking, economic common sense, etc. assist individuals in performing the diversified life functions efficaciously. Life Skills allow them to deal with all kinds of sentiments, respect each other’s feelings and conceptions, and thus maintain affectionate and amicable relationships.
These essential skills develop a sense of self-awareness and make individuals competent, which is indispensable for the overall growth and development of children. The self-reflection helps them to analyse their strengths and weaknesses, and allows them to make the most of the available opportunities and overcome threats triumphantly. Being aware of our behaviour stimulates us to make positive changes for amelioration and development.
Life skills influence children’s choice of actions, and teach them to take responsibility for their mistakes rather than blaming others. These skills guide children to think out of the box and come up with innovative and practical solutions to a problem. Life skills upgrade their critical thinking and productivity, boost self-confidence, and make them resilient and self-reliant. The essential skills like decision-making allow individuals to make independent and well-informed decisions. Sound decision-making enhances their personality development and gives them the power to lead their lives.
Life skills develop a spirit of teamwork and motivate individuals to lead from the front. Development of essential skills helps individuals in comprehending how to distribute time and efforts in different tasks, how to be compassionate and empathetic towards colleagues, how to adapt as per different jobs and roles, how to react in unfavourable circumstances, and how to develop interpersonal relationships.
Life skills like stress management and emotional intelligence allow individuals to maintain peace of mind. Life is unpredictable. Individuals come across numerous adversities. Emotional intelligence helps them in making harsh decisions and overcoming adversities with fortitude. Stress management allows individuals to eliminate mental stress for improved performance and better results.
Another imperative life skill is economic common sense which stimulates individuals to be cognizant of their standing and role in the economy. Economic skills enable them to comprehend the economic conditions and transformations, which allows them to make economic decisions independently and judiciously. Economic sense promotes financial literacy in individuals and thus helps them in managing financial resources prudently. It allows individuals to overcome financial complications and challenges successfully. Economic sense protects them from deceptions or exploitation due to ignorance of economic issues, and thus produces smart consumers and responsible members in the economy.
Critical Life skills help individuals in upgrading their quality of life and allow them to manage their personal, professional and social lives effectively. Life skills provide the road map to become contented individuals, accomplished professionals and smart global citizens.