10 Life Skills That Every Teen Must Know

Life is colourful for every teenager. Adolescence though can often be a difficult stage for many. Teens spend a lot of time trying to fit in, make friends, and ultimately gain life skills to push them forward. However, the unfortunate reality is that many teenagers struggle to navigate these critical years. Teens often compare themselves to their peers and feel left out. Consequently, it is crucial for parents to recognise their children’s issues and for the young teens to confide in their parents. It’s important to support them through their youth as they grow into adulthood, hence Education shoulders the responsibility to teach and train the young ones in various ways. The main flaw of education is that it does not necessarily equip the children with important life skills and it may not teach various things that prove important outside the classroom.

Here, Careers360 suggests a list of basic life skills that would be useful for any teenager to face any challenge as a teen or even as an adult.

Practise Self-Control

Teens need to master this skill in order to make sure they complete their task. without any distractions. So, remember to keep your focus, practise self-control, and try to have an open-mind. This enables you to think before acting and results in a more appropriate response. Too much of anything can never be good afterall. So put away those mobiles before your mom asks you to for the 100th time.

Hone Communication Skills

Communication may seem more like a more personal skill. Learning the art of getting your thoughts, ideas and feelings across to other people without offending them is important. How you speak and behave says a lot about your character and personality. This will help you for a long time to come; college, university, internships or jobs all require an individual who can work and communicate well with his peers. It is an important skill that you need to learn in order to handle personal and professional relationships easily.

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Learn Time Management

Time management is about planning and working through your day purposefully. It is about taking control of the time you have and utilising it with focus and productivity. Using time efficiently and working through a time table for different activities can help you be prepared and without being overwhelmed. Starting now in your teens can be great as it will help you tremendously as an adolescent and as an adult too.

Problem Solving Skills

This is a major skill to learn, and yes not everyone perfects it. As a student you may only be aware of Maths problems which you can find a right answer to. But there are real life problems that need to be worked out and you may not always land on the right answer. Your parents, friends and peers may not be around always every time you face a problem. Learning how to solve your problems yourself, can help you give you confidence to face challenges. It will eventually lead you to develop into mature adults.

Knowledge of Finance

Money may not be the most important thing in life right now, but just observe your parents and you’ll know it certainly is vital for a comfortable life. That is why discipline of finance is a major skill to learn as a teenager. Budgeting skills help you to understand the value of money, saving sufficient funds, consciousness of spending, as well as planning for the future.

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Personal Grooming And Hygiene

Grooming and hygiene are essential and must be practised from early years of your life. Personal grooming is important to stay healthy and also have a good social or professional life. Cleanliness is one of the principles of hygiene. It is required for a teenager to follow proper etiquette, wherever they go. Train yourself to maintain basic hygiene daily.

Domestic Skills

After you complete school or leave home to start college life you’re not going to find it as easy breezy if you do not know the basics of home management. So, it is better if you learn basic house maintenance, cooking, cleaning, basic repairs, etc early on. Parents too should allow their teenagers to learn these skills while they are still under parental care.

Stress Management Skills

Learning how to cope with emotions allows you to see all sides of the situation you are facing. Coping or self-management skills can help you stay rational during stressful times. It empowers you to take the lead on how to react to different situations, people, and many other not so pleasant moments of life. Learning to cope with loneliness, being homesick and being away from your loved ones can be difficult but learn to manage this stress.

Educational Skills

Education is important for living a comfortable and healthy life. Schools may provide you with all the knowledge. But you need to know things beyond school as well. There are skills beyond academics, digital skills, soft skills, that are useful for teenagers personally and professionally. This generation tends to understand digital technology a lot quicker than their parents. But they may not understand all things analog. So equip yourself with the knowledge of things that you don’t know - that too is education.

Simple Goal Setting Skills

Identify your skills and setting basic goals that can help motivate you to do more; as a student and as well as professional as well. Eventually, you will be in a position where you can set bigger goals and achieve them too!

Teen years are probably the most cumbersome with so many changes happening within and around you. But remember that this is also the time to lay the foundation of what you will be as an adult. The simple skills mentioned above can definitely help you in the long run, and remember, you can always learn and acquire these, it's never too late!