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If you have younger children (pre-teen age and younger), how often do you teach them new life skills at home? As a mother, it is your responsibility to make sure your children know how to do the basic things that will help them in everyday life when they grow older.

My daughter, who is nine, has begged me for weeks now to teach her how to make coffee in the coffee pot. I put her off at first, thinking that she was too young. I wasn’t ready to give her that bit of knowledge yet because I still think of her as being my "baby girl." The reality is she’s growing up right before my very eyes, and if I don’t teach her these basic skills, someone else will.

Today I took two big steps. First, I released a certain amount of control by letting her do something for me. And second, I taught her a basic life skill that will enable her to do something nice for others. She knows her daddy and I love to drink coffee. Now that she knows how to make coffee, she will enjoy doing that small, nice thing for us from time to time.

What are basic life skills?

Basic life skills are those essential tools every person needs to live a full, independent life. Some moms find it easier to just do these sorts of things themselves, rather than relying on their children to do them "right." However, if your kids are not equipped with the essential basic life skills, they will end up feeling inadequate, frustrated, and inept.

Basic life skills include, but are not limited to:

• washing dishes
• folding clothes
• making coffee
• cleaning their bedroom
• sweeping the kitchen floor
• washing the car
• vacuuming the rug
• scrubbing the toilet

Why your children need life skills

You might be thinking that all of these life skills just look like a list of chores. While that might be true, each of those are things you children must know in order to live (healthy) on their own. If you enable your children to grow up lazy, doing all the work for them, they will either probably live at home forever or be slobs in their own homes.

Every child needs to know these basic life skills in order to live a healthy and productive life. Plus, when you teach your children how to do these seemingly simple, everyday household tasks, you will instill a sense of pride in them. Knowing you trust them enough to teach them how to do these things will give them a sense of responsibility towards themselves, your family, and your home.