Top Ten Thursdays - Life Skills

After a few days off from my laptop I've almost recovered from the marathon that was the A to Z blogging challenge, and what better way to flex my typing fingers than with a top ten Thursday. Today we're talking about the life skills we think kids should be learning at school instead of things they will never use (believe me, I'm yet to use trigonometry or geometry).

1. Dreams - children should be taught to embrace their dreams. How sad would life be if we didn't have the ability to dream about our futures and create magical worlds in our daydreams. Granted, not all the dreams may come true, for example I'm yet to meet a unicorn, but some will come true, like the one I had when I was young of marrying a gorgeous Scotsman.

2. Respect for our Elders - this one is sort of double edged for me, as I'm the first to admit that I think people need to earn respect, but when it comes to the elderly I think until proven otherwise we should give them respect. Young people definitely need to learn this as the amount of times in London I watched teenagers push in front of very elderly people to get onto buses and the tube was ridiculous. I read a great quote once, "why do some societies have elderly and others have elders?"

3. Stop - young people should be taught to stop and just be. Relaxation techniques would be a great thing for them to learn at a young age because once you're older it takes a lot more practice to develop the ability to really stop and turn off from the noise of the world.

4. Free - teach children that the best things in life are free. Too much importance is put on monetary value of things rather than how much thought went into it. Never underestimate the value of pinning a hand written note to the mirror for someone you love to find.

5. Nature - teach young people to respect the planet we live on and the beautiful natural world. The joy of sitting in a meadow where you can't hear anything but nature is a really precious thing. Listening to birdsong, walking through a forest, or sitting beside a river - all pleasures in life that are free and fabulous. Also teach them to stand up for the rights of nature - we want future generations to be able to enjoy nature as much as we do.

6. Reading - encourage children to keep reading, not just because they have to for lessons, but because there are so many wonderful worlds hidden within the pages of books. Reading can open our minds to all sorts of possibilities, teach us about people in far away lands, and give us a way of escaping from reality for just a while. I'm not a book snob, so paper books or e-readers, whichever keeps the young person reading.

7. Explore - teach young people that there is a whole world to explore and if they ever get the chance then seeing how other people live can only be a good thing. That world may just be seeing more of their own country, but that's still a great way to widen a persons views and open them up to other ways of thinking.

8. Private - this one is due to the upsurge of social media. I always used to tell student nurses that they shouldn't put anything on social media that they weren't willing to walk into a crowded restaurant and yell out to everyone there. Also, prospective employers can look at social media and see what sort of image you have out in the virtual world, so making sure you don't post anything that could come back to haunt you is also a really good thing to learn.

9. Love - teach children that when they find the person that is going to be their forever love to treasure that love and protect that person's heart. Hug often, hold hands no matter how old you are, and make sure they are your best friend.

10. Enjoy - life is for enjoying. Yes there will be times that this is a really hard thing to do, but finding things to be grateful for each day will help to find the enjoyment. When I say enjoy, I don't mean to have a party every day, sometimes it's just finding pleasure in the simple things, like a perfectly made latte, or holding hands with the one you love.

There you have it, ten things I think should be compulsory in school curriculum's. What do you think young people should learn instead of the periodic table, algebra, and what year the industrial revolution started. Before you go, please pop over to Tamara's blog and see what my fellow bloggers have come up with in their top tens -click HERE to visit.

Until next time, be good, stay safe, and make sure you take time to relax over the next few days.

Pamela & Ken
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