Counselor's Corner: Skills every child should have
School districts are forced to use test scores to measure school effectiveness. When a school helps children develop social and emotional skills, however, it is helping those children to be more successful in school and life.
According to Lawrence Kutner, Ph.D., there are five skills critical skills that children should master – patience, self-reliance, responsibility, bonding, and self-control.
Young children want things NOW! When they enter school, all of a sudden they have to wait for snacks, turns on the playground, and almost everything. We counselors call this "delayed gratification," and a lot of adults have trouble with this one.
A classic experiment many years ago left children with two toys in a room, one much nicer than the other. If they rang the bell, they could have the less attractive toy, but if they used patience and waited a few minutes for the experimenter to come back, they could have the nicer toy.
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Nancy Blanchard, Ed.S, NCC/NCSC, LPC is a counselor at Highland and Lenwil Elementary Schools in West Monroe. |
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