Needed Social Skills Part 1

Kids are the future of society, right. They will get older and go out into the world and there are certain skills that you need to navigate within society, groups. I am not going to go through every single one, and will look at the ones I feel are key.

The ability to follow instruction and direction is an important skill. Being the lone ranger, the maverick, works well sometimes, but not all the time. Kids need to learn when it is important to follow instructions and direction in work, classroom and such situations, as well as in situations where games are played and there are rules to follow. Teaching the skill of following instruction and direction is important and parents as well as educators need to help them understand this.

Accepting NO is part of life’s journey and we all have to learn that even in prayer sometimes it’s NO or even HELL NO. Kids must understand throughout life that we do not always get things we want, or when and how we want, that things are not given on a silver platter. Both girls and boys need to learn that word, when to use it and then to accept it. I have a problem with schools making it so nothing has to be earned, just so others don’t feel sad or deflated. Life does have sad and deflated moments and we need early on to learn how to process that constructively.

Accepting consequences is important. The big problem I see for example with the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve is that they didn’t take responsibility, instead played the blame game all around. Owning up to the fact that we mess up and accepting the results of that is important, not to have an eternal guilt trip, but to have the maturity to say I messed up, see how restitution can be made. That’s part of growing up, maturing.

Listening, hearing what is truly being said is important. Lack of communication can irreparably damage a relationship, so really seeking to understand what the other person is saying, meaning matters a great deal. Often we, myself included, can be so caught up in thinking what we are going to say next that we don’t really hear the person, tone etc…At times that can lead to one being offended when no offense was meant. Listening is different from hearing because I can hear someone talk, hear the words, but not be really listening and paying attention to what is being said. Being in the moment of the conversation matters.