Creating independence for teens in your house is an important step to set them up for success. As your children get older, they’ll need to learn and practice life skills and learn how the choices they make affect their lives. Once they can show responsibility for taking care of themselves, they’ll gain the independence to make bigger decision outside of the home.
Learning Life Skills as a Teen
- Cooking: Slowly teach them the basics like scrambled and hard-boiled eggs, re-heating pizza, or making a box cake mix. Here they’ll learn how to use the stove, the oven, and a few small appliances. Then move on to making recipes with them. Finally, ask them to plan and cook a meal for your family once a week.
- Home Care: Start by having them shadow you for cleaning responsibilities, both inside and outside the home. Then transition them to caring for their own laundry and cleaning their room. And finally, you can put them in charge of aspects of home care like taking out the trash, mowing the lawn, or doing the dishes.
- Money and Jobs: Start them with home jobs for money from you that are outside the scope of home care. Explain how to both save and spend the money they earn. Explain accountability for taking on a job. Once they’ve secured their first job, set up a bank account, teach them how to use a debit card and how to save for big ticket items.