6 Essential Life Lessons Children aren’t Taught in School, but they Obviously Should

As we all grow up we realize that the challenges life throws at us along the way are real and don’t really require the basic knowledge of trigonometry to solve.

This is where the school education systems all over the world lack. We are so engrossed in teaching subjects (which obviously are important for a career), that we forget teaching them about life itself.

A child will grasp every bit of knowledge you present to him/her, so why not prepare them for their life through that?

Here are 6 important life lessons that children aren’t taught in school, but they obviously should:

1. Being knowledgeable doesn’t mean understanding everything

Surprisingly almost all schools focus on telling the students that knowing about something means understanding it completely.

This proved to be detrimental to our own critical thinking abilities. How will a child learn to think for himself/herself if you keep telling them that what the book says is the only truth?

This type of blind belief without questions hinders a generation’s growth as analytical and wiser beings.

2. Degrees and Titles won’t matter beyond a point

A university degree is viewed as the ultimate goal for students. The way to reach it may be murky and suck away all the creativity and happiness from a child, but we rarely stop to think about that.

Our focus on a degree as a social status that will make us feel important amongst peers has been so strong that we seldom pay attention to the real issues. Our relationships and creativity need to be nurtured as a top priority. Without it a person is lost (even with a degree in hand).

3. Failing can be good

Failure has forever been the biggest fear in the student community. Since childhood we are taught that failing is a bad thing which should be avoided at all costs, so study with everything you got.

What we forget is that failures and mistakes is what makes us essentially human, and that is how we learn. Our mistakes teach us the difference between right and wrong.

The fear of failure that has been imbibed by us through years of conditioning has unfortunately made sure that instead of trying new avenues of learning we run away from it, lest we fail.

4. Not doing anything is a waste of your time

Leisure time for a child is synonymous with playing, contemplating or simply relaxing. But from a young age children learn that leisure time is meaningless and futile, and that being continuously busy and productive is what gives purpose and meaning in life.

Productiveness is equated with how much a child studies or takes part in activities that are building certain skills. Creativity and innocence take the backseat.

We need to teach our children that relaxing and taking some time off is important to recharge ourselves. Many things we ‘feel like throwing up’ after a while are mostly because we overdo them, without getting a time off. Even eating something as tasty as french fries will bore us after a week or two.

Everything needs a time off, especially something we are doing every day, for the rest of our lives.

Read After: According to Harvard Psychologists: Parents Who Raise “Good” Kids Do These 5 Things

5. Work could be a fun too

Schools teach us that we need a clear map of our lives. Studies are followed by a relentless search for a job to help us earn a living. These are the predefined steps.

Through this plan, a child learns that work (and studies by extension) is an activity that requires your blood, sweat and tears. It’s an uphill task with no help.

This is a wrong mindset; work would be a negative word if it’s done through compulsion. Kids need to learn that if done with love and enthusiasm, any work could become enjoyable.

6. Exams aren’t a good measure for intelligence

Exams are the sole criteria in schools through which their intelligence is tested. To call is a flawed measure would be an understatement as things brings a rift between the kids who do well in exams and those who don’t.

In reality, exams are memory tests which require kids to remember facts and theorems long enough to write in an exam and forget thereafter. It is not a fair measure and children should learn the same.

It is up to us to teach children to think out of the box and accept themselves and life’s little moments without any guilt or pressure. This will help build a future of humans who are more in touch with themselves and not mindlessly rushing along a pre-programmed life.