Here are 7 life skills that can be utilized by students to maneuver the complications of adult life. Read below to understand each life skills in detail.

1. Money Management

Money talk is always the hardest but the most important. College students suddenly have to start paying bills, prepare a budget, and manage expenses with the little money they have. If they never receive this life skills training during school, it is highly likely that they will end up with huge debt, drop out of college, or turn to parents for financial help.

Money management can be taught by openly discussing the pros of operating within a budget, tips about savings, and tracking the expenditure. Parents and teachers have a huge role to play here as they can offer fixed pocket money and assign class projects with fake currency to students and ask them to survive the month without asking for more money. When this is combined with the knowledge delivered at school, students can learn to manage money effectively.

2. Time Management

When in college, there is just too much to handle. Studies, part-time job, co-curricular activities, leisure time, and more. The sad part is there is no one to remind to follow a schedule and complete everything when there is still time. Hence, this awakening comes hitting the student after everything has been already spoiled.

School teachers and parents can encourage the use of time management apps to help manage time better. You don’t literally have to ask students to download a software-based application. But, you can teach to manage activities with a simple to-do list or Kanban method. Later, when they have an option, they can utilize different mobile-based applications to achieve the purpose.

3. Shopping for Essentials

Unless you are expecting students to live off pizza and fast food for a very long time, teachers and parents need to include this important life skill training in the schedule. Every student should understand how to buy basic grocery, compare different products, and check the expiry of the products. Further, they should understand how to do it within a specific budget. So first, they need to know how to have a budget which can be achieved with money management life skills training in middle school. Then, they should move to essentials shopping.

School authorities can create intuitive sessions and use case scenarios to help students understand the basics of shopping. For instance, a case question where you offer two same products to students having a slight difference in expiry date or ingredients. Then, you can ask them to choose the product which they would buy and why.

4. Vehicle Management

Vehicle management may seem irrelevant but it is a huge responsibility. However, it is simple to deliver this life skill training in middle schoolwithout any hassle. There is no need to go the extra mile to discover new learning methods. Teachers and parents can deliver the knowledge of how to maintain a vehicle. For instance, teachers can teach about the oil and cleaning requirements of a car. Parents, on the other hand, can ask their children to assist whenever they go for car repair so that they practically learn about vehicle management.

5. Apartment Management

Not every student would want to live in the dorm room. Many may prefer taking a separate house on rent. To help them search for the right apartment, which is also safe, is a necessity.

Hence, it won’t hurt to have a little heads up in school about the lease, rent management, repair, and other similar aspects of taking an apartment on rent. Further, it would be beneficial to prepare some red flags that can indicate that a particular apartment is not the right place. This can be in terms of overall safety, building safety, neighborhood, etc.

6. Professional Requirements

In college, students already reach halfway of becoming a professional. It won’t hurt to teach some of the skills before they even enter college.

This life skills trainingis also hassle-free and simple for teachers. Sometimes, teachers can send weekly assignments through email. During this activity, the teacher should reserve the right to reject assignments that have come in physically in the form of hard copy. The assignment can also be rejected if the student has not properly added a description in the mail itself.

Practical learning will help students remember these small things when they enter college or professional world.

7. Mental Health Management

Mental health is the most neglected aspect of life skills training in middle school. This neglect later leads to grave consequences. A study (the United States specific) revealed that 18.2% of the population suffers from some type of mental illness. This is like every 1 in 5 adults are suffering from mental issues and sadly, many never talk about it. For most of these adults, the issue is not too complicated to handle.

To deliver mental health life skills training to middle school and high school children, you can ask a counselor to take regular sessions. Also, allow students to individually meet the counselor to discuss issues. This will encourage a sense of understanding and responsibility in difficult times, which will help students overcome short-term stress, anxiety, and depressed feeling.

 Conclusion

Life skills trainingis part and parcel of effective school learning. It is necessary to learn subjects such as mathematics, science, etc. but it is also necessary to get acquainted with life skills training in middleschool. Learning life skills early in life help in avoiding unnecessary stress, anxiety, and risks of adult life. Hence, read the above tips and implement these life skills training programsin the school curriculum.