When my son was born, I wanted him to have real-life skills. The more I saw his school books, the more despondent I became.
I feel that when they had to design curriculum for Indian children, the Brits went to a section of the library called "The Most Useless Things To Know" and put that in our curriculum. After independence, some of the things were remedied and some were made worse. But after 1990, India, and indeed, the world, changed at a rapid pace. Skills that children used to pick up with their peers automatically, became scarce because peer interactions changed. Many of our grandparents learnt swimming in the village pond on their own.
So, after leaving work, I sat down and created this list of life skills that a child should have, but is missing from the curriculum and the environment.
It is not the list that is important. It is the idea that we, as parents and educators, need to equip children with a toolkit for life, not a degree. Increasingly, research points out that young adults are failing at adulting. We don't blame the parents. But we should. Drowning in their screens, living in nuclear families, how much parenting is our generation doing? It is either helicopter parenting, or absentee parenting.
It is said that no matter what a parent does, it is wrong. That is true, to some degree. But when so many young adults are failing to create and sustain relationships, when business models are made out of seemingly everyday things like studying, dating, friendships, then really, can we leave parents out of the responsibility zone?
On the Facebook group of The Children's Post, I shared a post asking for learning resources for Observation skills. There were some helpful ideas, but mostly, many parents asked for the list. And, its not the list that is important. I am hesitant about sharing that list because this checkbox style of parenting really irks me. This list was made for my child. It may not be relevant in another place, to another child. And therefore, I feel, that every child's need for life skills is very different. Some children come equipped with some things automatically. Some children are naturally gregarious. My son is shy and introverted. Some communication things are important for him. Some others, not so much.
So well, thats my dilemma. It helps to talk to oneself sometimes. :)
