Teaching your kids to be resourceful will give them the life skills they need in order to weather any storms that may bubble up in life. According to the authors of 365 Ways To Help Your Children Grow, being resourceful mean taking on challenges, taking time to think through the challenge and then using any available resources to solve the challenge.
There are many ways to teach resourcefulness. One way is to teach everyday skills. Household tasks, like doing laundry or grocery shopping, are ideal ways to teach your kids how to be resourceful. Not only that, you also teach them how to be independent and prepare them for the time when they will leave your house and go out on their own into the world. They will already be equipped with the skills they need to pay bills, clean their apartments, cook, etc.
Teaching yourself something new is actually a way to also teach your kids to be resourceful. When your kids see that you are learning new skills, they also want to learn new skills themselves. Tyler is so funny, he’s heard me say over and over again that I am doing research. So one day he yells out that he needs peace and quiet because he had some research to do! Then he pulls out is picture dictionary and proceeds to write a story about Inspector Gadget and the Pink Panther.
Another idea is to find things that you and your kids can learn together. I’ve thought about this one already. I would love to take karate and so does Tyler but I can’t find a class that encompasses all age groups. Other ideas include learning a foreign language, yoga, taking a cooking class or an art class.
You can also spark resourcefulness in your kids by allowing them to brainstorm a new room decoration project. If your kids complain that they are sick of their bedrooms or if you simply are ready to redecorate, enlist their help. Give them a budget to work with and let them come up with the ideas. Once you come up with a plan you can both live with go ahead and get started. They’ll enjoy the planning and the actual work because when they finish they can step back and say that they did it themselves. So not only will they learn resourcefulness but their self-esteem will be boosted.
See also:
Building Self-esteem in Your Children