Parents are not only their child’s first teachers, but families also are the teacher who stays with through life.

Some of the keys to success at school, college, and career work exactly the same at home. We don’t think of these as study or job skills, but without these skills, teens find it extremely difficult to learn how to do well with other tasks.

We teach these essential skills in school, but to succeed, students need practice at home.

• Self-awareness: The ability to identify and recognize one’s own emotions and thoughts and understand how they impact behavior. Here’s a tool that can help.
• Social awareness: Having empathy and respect for others and the ability to take on different perspectives. Discussions of experiences and breaking down what happened can help students learn from their experiences.
• Responsible decision-making: The ability to make ethical, constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions. Here’s a tool that can help.  Find more help here.
• Self-management: Being able to manage one’s emotions and impulses, manage stress, and set personal goals. We talk about the Dance of Independence often. One can only learn self-management through life experiences. Our body chemistry is part of the challenge. Unless we are in a situation that triggers our body, we aren’t practicing the real thing. “The Upside of Stress” by Stanford professor Kelly McGonigal breaks this skill down to help teens learn. She explores key facts in this Ted Talk.
• Relationship skills: Having the capacity to establish and maintain healthy, supportive relationships. The Search Institute offers easy to follow advice for giving your students opportunities to experience these relationships.

Practice in these skills is one of many reason we have so many team and club activities for students outside of class.

Help us bring practice of these skills home as well.