Playing alone and being part a team are very different things in life. When a child plays alone they do not have to consider anyone else – they just go along with their own agenda whilst learning at the same time to enjoy their own company and use their imagination. When part of a team they have to think about much more and the learning is very different. When doing team sport or being part of a work group, children learn life lessons such as how to respect other people’s opinions and decisions. They understand how to be adaptable, learn perseverance, the importance of listening to others, sportsmanship and how to share amongst other things.
Five Life Lessons Children Should Know
Sharing
Sharing is a required life skill. Explain to your child that it is hard to play as a team/be part of a group if they keep their ideas, opinions and voice to themselves. The more they share hopefully the more they receive back.
Listening and Co-operation
Listening to others is important. If your child listens they will know what is going on around them and be able to co-operate. At school and at home they need to listen otherwise they won’t know what is expected of them.
Being Adaptable
When working together as a team circumstances can change. A project leader may be ill and you need to continue with the project. Your child would need to be able to adapt to the new situation quickly and get on with it. In life situations change all the time and we need our children to embrace them and think to themselves, Okay, what shall I do now?’
Perseverance
It is important to persevere when part of a team and all is not going as the team or your child wants it to. Help your child to not be disheartened when they are faced with obstacles or not doing so well. They need to know that throughout life not everything will be easy and it will require them to keep going.
Decision making
In order for a team to do well they need to make decisions and your child needs to respect decisions that other people are making on their behalf even if they don’t agree with them. We need to help them to think, ‘they made that decision with what they knew at the time and they believed it was the right thing to do.’ They also need to make decisions and stick to them. Making decisions brings with it responsibility and when wrong decisions are made our children learn from them.
Do you have anything to add to the above? I hope so.
For more information on life lessons and other personal skills you want your child to have please take a look at The Parent’s Toolkit.
Image courtesy of Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
