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That's all normal, everyday stuff that parents should be teaching kids. Along with grocery shopping, cleaning, sticking to a schedule/time management, how to apply for jobs (older kids/teens, obviously), how to manage an allowance/bank account (include them in your monthly budgeting), etc. Whatever you do, show them how to do it. That's parenting.
We have a 'learning tower' for our 3 year old and he gets to help my wife with chores in the kitchen. Learning numbers, measuring, safety with knives, etc.
I'm in agreement on teaching money management in some way. Starting them early on this is a very good idea.
Bring them grocery shopping, with a list and a firm budget. They have to do the shopping. Stuff like that.
At 5-6 my kids became useful in helping to fix things around the house and with the car. I get them involved in the entire process; research, planning, execution, and clean-up. I also "pay" them for their help using our household reward system. I generally compensate them the equivalent of $0.50 for every half-hour worth of work.
The problem is that they are pretty small (can't reach many places in a car engine) and don't have the grip strength to break loose rusted nuts (even with a breaker bar) or adequately tighten screws or torque wrenches. They also don't have the dexterity to start a nut on a threaded bolt or other small-motor tasks.
They are most useful as gofurs or extra hands to hold stuff, and their help does usually significantly shorten any task I have to do, but my kids are very patient and compliant. I can see how it would be a problem/annoyance with a typical elementary schooler's attention span.
My wife has them sewing, weaving, making origami, and other stuff that is not in my wheelhouse. Neither one of us has them cook or clean. They want to cook, but it is just too much of a hassle both because they are short and because it takes quite a bit of dexterity and strength. Unlike mechanical work, there's rarely an easy interim phase (like turning those other seven lugnuts a thousand times) that can be done by someone completely unskilled without slowing the process down. They want to clean, but they do a crap job of it and we don't really want them exposed to cleaning agents on a regular basis. Those are tasks for when they are older and more mature.
My favorite part of having them help is the ability to use the internet/youtube to learn about how, say, a shower faucet works and diagnose the best way to repair, replace, or jury-rig it. Now my kids know nearly as much about how electricity, plumbing, and internal combustion engines work as I do. They understand the "magic" behind wall outlets or the dials on the dashboard, and a lot of their drawings from creative time include "blueprints" for inventions they make up--like unicorn water slides (with pumping and purification equipment to filter out the rainbow poop) and the like.
I also think I have instilled in them pride in the ability to keep old equipment running long past when most people would have thrown it away or hired someone else to fix it. When we do finally buy or install something new, it makes it that much more special and satisfying to know we wrung every last penny worth of function out of the old equipment.
Of course, the downside to this is that they are turning into mini-horders. I can't recycle a cardboard box or a paper towel tube because they want to build something from it, or they want to keep it for some planned future project.
Great ideas and keep them coming. I try and get my kids involved in everything I do including changing a light bulb. Of course a lot of what we do is read and respond to emails all day so I don't consider that a true skill, but will definitely have a talk about the best way to use this communication tool properly.
I've got them programming in Python now. I found a nice child-oriented library book about programming and we are learning it together. Knowing Python would be helpful in my day job, so it's another joint-use project.
My son is incredibly interested, even in--what I would consider--the "boring" mechanics of programming, like how to use special characters to string together variables in output. This is all just typing on the black screen of the command prompt at the computer. No fun visuals or colorful characters like you see in those "baby" introduction to programming apps.
Now, the real trick is going to be making something useful. I know he'd be over the moon if he could program any sort of app that could appear on one of our old cell phones or tablets, even if it just displayed the time and date or turned on a light or something. Unfortunately, we don't have a "smart" house. I did pick up a couple of wifi outlets at the thrift store for a buck. Maybe he can build a timer app for them, but that's a LONG WAY OFF considering where we are at the moment.
I've got them programming in Python now. I found a nice child-oriented library book about programming and we are learning it together. Knowing Python would be helpful in my day job, so it's another joint-use project.
My son is incredibly interested, even in--what I would consider--the "boring" mechanics of programming, like how to use special characters to string together variables in output. This is all just typing on the black screen of the command prompt at the computer. No fun visuals or colorful characters like you see in those "baby" introduction to programming apps.
Now, the real trick is going to be making something useful. I know he'd be over the moon if he could program any sort of app that could appear on one of our old cell phones or tablets, even if it just displayed the time and date or turned on a light or something. Unfortunately, we don't have a "smart" house. I did pick up a couple of wifi outlets at the thrift store for a buck. Maybe he can build a timer app for them, but that's a LONG WAY OFF considering where we are at the moment.
Looking for some feedback on ideas for raising your kids beyond the standard school academics. I'm talking about real world kind of stuff.
Here is a few examples of teaching them:
1) The kids make the hello fresh meals that come to the house. Skill set is: Learning how to follow directions and cook
2) They do their own laundry
3) If something needs fixed around the house I have them assist me with fixing it.
You get the idea. So let me here your suggestions!
Give your kids chores, do not helicopter parent, let them succeed, fail, laugh, cry ... Good luck!
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