Teaching Children “Soft Skills”
While the ultimate goal of parenting is to prepare these little humans to be successful, happy, and fulfilled adults it seems that more and more, parents are taking the opportunity away for their children to develop the skills necessary to accomplish goals of lifelong success, happiness and fulfillment. The terms “helicopter parenting” and “overprotective” become more and more frequent and, as an educator I have seen the negative impact of this shift on my students over the years. As a mom, though, I am mostly unsure how to avoid it. I want to give my kiddos every opportunity and worry that the things they miss will have a great impact. This article by Peter Davidson (Mariamontessori.com) is really wonderful in reminding us that “soft skills” are the things our kiddos really need in their tool box to successfully and confidently pursue lives of happiness and fulfillment (let alone be successful college students!)
Happy Reading,
Britney
I had an interesting conversation with a prospective parent recently who teaches at a local college. She shared that she and her colleagues are constantly discussing “how underprepared kids are for college in terms of ‘soft skills.’” By soft skills she meant skills other than the purely academic — the personal qualities, habits and attitudes that make someone a successful college student and, by extension, a good boss or employee later in life. She had just come from an observation in toddlers and primary and was surprised to have seen that in Montessori, “starting in toddlers students develop the self-motivation, independence, and follow-through that many college students lack!” In other words, beginning at these very young ages, Montessori children are already developing the soft skills that will benefit them so greatly later in life.
