8 Life Lessons To Teach Children Before Age 10

 Contributed post 

Pexels - CC0 License

As a parent, it’s your job to teach your child the most important life lessons before 10. With these, you can equip them to go into the world and thrive as adults. 

But which lessons should you be teaching them, exactly? 

Let’s take a look. 

They’re Good Enough As They Are

We currently live in a world where nothing is ever enough. People have to constantly get better all the time. If they’re not making progress along multiple fronts in their life, then they’re just not trying hard enough. 

The reality, though, is that life is challenging and things don’t always go the way that people expect. Hardships can come along out of the blue and ruin plans, setting many people back years. 

That’s why the lesson that the child is “good enough” is so critical. They need to know that they are acceptable just the way they are. 

Nature Isn’t An Option

Another critical lesson in today’s world is the idea that nature isn’t optional. While a lot of people stay in their studio apartments all day long looking at screens, that’s no way to actually live. 

Therefore, you’ll want to teach your kids the value of spending time outside. It connects them to what life used to be like, and it can help them build new skills. For a lot of people, it’s also a kind of spiritual practice, something that they can do really make the most of their time and energy 

For kids, getting into nature can actually involve some quite specific activities. For example, they could collect bugs, draw a landscape, or learn new camping skills. As a parent, it's your responsibility to help them with all of this. 

The Value Of Respect

Teaching kids what respect is and why it’s important is another thing you’ll want to do before age 10. The more they can grasp this concept, the more manageable they’ll be as they grow older. 

Respect is something that most people consider earned. If someone has put in the hard work, then they deserve to receive the respect that they get. However, you might want to go a step deeper with them and explain why it is a good idea to respect everyone, even if they haven’t done anything special to warrant praise. Again, it comes back to the important life lesson that you don’t know what other people are going through. When kids understand that everyone is fighting a battle, it helps them to be kinder and more loving. 

Waiting Builds Strength

Pexels - CC0 License

Kids find it notoriously challenging to wait for the things they want. Most children expect to get items immediately, which is challenging for parents. 

That’s where the lesson that waiting builds strength comes into the picture. When kids are able to wait for things, they are less likely to always seek the easier option. 

As a parent, you can actually get them to develop this muscle by making them wait for the rewarding things that they want in their lives. For example, you can make them wait until the weekend for cake, or get them to wait until their birthday for a toy they want. This delayed gratification is critical. 

Strangers Aren’t Safe

Kids are naturally trusting of adults under the age of 10 and need to be constantly reminded that they aren’t necessarily safe. The idea isn’t to build fear into them; just to make them savvy enough not to want to go off with strangers the moment they show up. 

The best way to do this is to get them to learn the expression “you’re not my mom” or “you’re not my dad.” This is something that they can say loudly to strangers to first, cause them to back off, and second, remind them that ultimately, they should only trust you as the parent. 

Money Is Earned

Most middle class parents also tell their children that money is something that’s earned. This gives them the idea that they need to work for something in order to get the reward. 

Of course, that’s not how the wealthy operate. Their view is that money is captured with systems, but that lesson might be a bit too advanced for toddlers. 

The reason this concept is important is because it shapes the child’s view of money. Instead of just thinking that it comes out of nowhere, they know that there’s real effort going on behind the scenes and that you, or someone else, is putting in the hours to make it happen. 

Words Have Power

Pexels - CC0 License

It’s also worth teaching children that words have power. This is the idea that the things that people say can have a big impact on others. 

The best lesson is to tell your child that once they say something, they can’t un-say it. Words can be sticky, and people will often remember them for the rest of their lives. That’s why it’s critical for your kids to think before they speak, processing what they want to say from the perspective of the other person. 

Mistakes Are Teachers

Another lesson that kids under 10 should learn is that mistakes are teachers. If they don’t fail, they probably won’t learn much. 

Mistakes aren’t something that many schools like and kids learn not to make them over time. The problem is that avoiding mistakes prevents real learning and progress, which is why it can be so insidious. 

As a parent, it’s your job to create an environment that pushes back against this. You need to make sure that you’re doing what you can to make mistakes acceptable so your child doesn’t become afraid of failing. 

Effort Is Greater Than Talent

Lastly, you want to instill the idea in your child that effort is greater than talent. While being naturally skilled at something is possible, the people who succeed in the end are usually just those who kept going. If you can give your child a sense of persistence, they are much more likely to achieve the things that they want to achieve in life.