The Power of Soft Skills for Parenting Digital Kids Chetna Jain March 5, 2021 Parenting 1988 According to UNICEF, digital literacy is “increasingly recognized as a central element of the skills a child requires for school, work and life.” This quote shows that the technology we use today has become an essential part of our lives. We live in the digital age, where kids are being born “with smartphones in their hands.” On the other hand, soft skills are a group of non-technical skills that focus more on social interaction and communication methods. They are often viewed as necessary tools to succeed in life and work. Seemingly, soft skills and digital literacy have little in common. However, we are here to show you that they both play a vital role in your child’s growth and development. If you wish to prepare your kids to thrive online and in the real world, read on. Strength of Digital Literacy When it comes to digital literacy, it is a crucial enabler that can empower children and allow them to navigate a changing world successfully. A child with digital literacy, or digital fluency, would be able to use technology to perform tasks for communicating with friends, learning new things, or even traveling. UNICEF describes “digital literacy” as a central component of preparing children and youth for life in the 21st century. In addition, it states that “families will need to ensure that their children have the skills needed to thrive – both on and offline.” The key is to give your kids opportunities to practice their soft skills as well as technology skills so they can learn how to communicate properly in any situation. For that, you could use a plethora of mentoring apps, such as https://www.mentorcliq.com/. The Importance of Soft Skills for Kids Soft skills are highly valued in today’s workplace. By focusing on non-technical skills, you can help your kid build social and emotional skills such as problem-solving, communication skills and ability to cooperate with others so they can be successful both at school and in life. To teach your child these skills: • Set basic house rules like honesty and respect. Children must understand the consequences of breaking these rules early in their lives. Applying these rules will help them build self-discipline as they grow up. • Create an open communication channel between parents and their kids; this can do wonders when it comes to forming strong relationships later in life. • To improve social skills, encourage your child to help others; this will enable him/her understand how the world works better. Your kid will also gain confidence that comes from being able to help others out in difficult situations. • Make your kid responsible for his/her actions. If you let kids get away with things, they become “entitled personalities” who think that everything in life should be handed to them. However, if they face consequences for their actions, they are more likely to bear in mind that their choices have an impact on their well-being. As you can see from the articles above, soft skills are very important for your child’s growth and development. However, technical skills are equally important. The good news is that kids can learn soft skills and digital literacy at the same time through effective parenting and family time. So what is the best way to help your kid become a digital adult? The most important thing is proper communication. In the next section, you will find our top tips on effective communication. Teach Children How to Communicate Effectively in Different Situations Communication is one of the most important soft skills because it enables people to convey an idea or a message to another person clearly. A parent’s tone of voice can sometimes show disapproval or disappointment, which could hurt a child. To improve communication skills in your child: • When you talk to your child about something important, make sure you do it in a positive manner instead of using negative statements like “don’t let me see you do that again!” Such statements would make your kid feel guilty about his/her actions even if he/she made an unintentional mistake. • Explain things simply so that your child understands them better; remember that children lack the ability to conceptualize abstract things easily, so talk to them in terms they can understand. You can ask a trusted friend like an older sibling or a family member to help you with this task too! This way, you won’t overwhelm your child with too much information at one go, and they won’t feel overwhelmed by the information she receives. • Whenever you talk with your child about a difficult situation in life, such as the death of someone close or bullying, give examples of characters (in books or movies) who faced similar situations and how they overcame them. This will help them understand how they can handle such situations better when they face them in future and give them inspiration from fictional characters so they don’t feel lonely when facing such situations (which could happen in real life)! You can also encourage them to visit online forums where real users share such experiences anonymously so they won’t feel embarrassed about talking about these things openly in real life! The Bottom Line We’re well into the 21st century, and the sole knowledge of technical skills is not going to be enough to ensure that your children prosper in our ever-changing world. Digital literacy is a term that did not carry much meaning as recently as 20 years ago but is one of the most important things when it comes to the development of human beings. Not knowing how to use technology properly can render a person useless in the ruthless modern job market. Secondly, soft skills, particularly those that have to do with effective communication, are in-demand right now, often alongside the more technical abilities. Don’t neglect these aspects of bringing up your child, if you want them to grow up to be a highly successful and productive adult! SHARE THIS POST