How Do We Teach Children the Most Important Life Skills?
A Tip Sheet for parents and professionals, prepared for the April 16-17, 2010, conference of the Council on Contemporary Families, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois By Ellen Galinsky This preview of Ellen Galinsky’s “Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs” provides an overview of her findings about what researchers now know about the life skills children need and ways that parents can teach them. FOR the past two decades, parents have felt ever-increasing pressure to buy expensive, high-tech learning toys and enroll their children in special activities that will give them an edge in getting into a good college and embarking on a rewarding career. Yet employers overwhelmingly report that young employees are not prepared for the demands of the 21st-century workplace. Specifically, they complain that the kind of skills successful workers need are typically not taught in school nor tested for – skills such as communicating effectively, working well wit
