Success is a skill. Being academic doesn’t necessarily translate to being a successful adult, book smart is one thing but person smart is also just as crucial. In fact ‘Soft Skills’ tests are now being used by more and more employers to find people who are glass half full and resillient in their thinking because these are proven to be the most productive in the long run. To cut a long story short: There are many important things your child needs to know to suceed that aren’t taught in school.

As a parent, you can prepare your child for a successful and fulfilling life by supporting your children with the tools that school does not explicitly cover.

Teach these skills to help your child to be successful in life:

 Set goals. Even a child can set goals. A child’s goals might be to get an A on a test, earn a spot on the football team or finish a long book. Learning to set an objective and develop a plan to achieve it are valuable skills for anyone of any age. Help your child by breaking down goals by setting a few targets along the way!

Work daily toward a purpose. We all need a purpose, Maslow (1987) showed that in his hierarchy of needs he placed self-actualisation as the top of ‘being’ and that this helps drive and motive humans to want to be the best that they can be. Help your child to put in the time each day to achieve something worthwhile. It might be exercising and self care, learning a new skill, practicing gratitude or helping others.

Focus. No one teaches us how to focus. In fact, most of us spend our lives distracting ourselves, which is the opposite of focus. Meditation is one tool for teaching focus, but there are many other options, such as:

● Set a timer and ask your child to focus on their homework for 10 minutes straight.

●Avoid allowing your child to read a book or play on their tablet while watching TV. Teach them to only engage in

one activity at a time.

Care little what others think. This is a tough one to master at any age, but it’s especially challenging for children. It’s hard to be successful if you’re worried about the opinions of others. When negative thoughts of  occur because of the words and actions of others, break down what happened and what your child had control over and what they did not. Doing this will help children see that they can’t change how others see them but have the power to change how this affects them and how they feel about themselves. We have a great tool to help with this in the form of our wellbeing packs for children! As a parent, this is something you can actively practice and also, share your process with your child when someone says something negative to you.

Risk failure. The willingness to fail is strongly correlated with success. Successful people fail much more frequently than the average person. The more often you’re willing to fail, the more success you’ll find.

Deal with failure. Once failure has occurred, it’s important to make the most of it. Teach your child that failure is a learning opportunity that makes them stronger and more capable  Try starting off with little failures, remind them that it is OK to feel disappointment but this energy will not mobilise them to make change and then come up with ways to move through the problem, make it fun and creative! One of our favourite books to show children ways to do this is called Beautiful Oops!

Deal with uncomfortable feelings. Fear is the greatest blocker to success. The inability to deal with negative feelings in general leads to bad habits, such as going out less, not practicing self care, overeating and not completing tasks set. Help your child to deal with uncomfortable feelings in a positive way.

Interpersonal skills. It’s not easy to be happy and successful on your own. Relationships are an important part of life. Many children struggle to make friends and fit in.This can lead to a lot of challenges in childhood and later in life.

Time management. Use your time wisely, and you can accomplish anything. Teach your child how to plan part of their day and how to use that time wisely. Procrastination is a success killer.

Self-care. You can’t be successful if you don’t take care of yourself adequately. Your child needs to know that they have a right and a responsibility to make their own needs a priority if they going to be successful. Back to Maslow – If we put everyone before ourselves all the time we would starve. We all need to be selfish sometimes. Teach your children to remember this! 

Your child shouldn’t have to figure out everything on their own. They have you to teach them the ropes. Success is a skill that anyone can learn. Teach your child to be successful. You’ll learn more about success in the process and enjoy a greater level of success yourself too. Win – Win.

Thanks for reading

Ordinary Magic CIC