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LIVING SKILLS SUBJECTS AND EDUCATIONAL GOALS FOR AGES 3 - 5
Living Skills
Children 3 – 5 years of age are naturally egocentric. Even their concern for other people is based on whatever personal benefits can be derived from others. Therefore, interest in personal emotions precedes a young child’s interest in interpersonal emotions, and interest in personal emotional situations precedes a young child’s interest in social emotional situations.
Given this developmental progression, it is recommended that parents enhance their young children’s natural development and growth by teaching them age-appropriate Living Skills that can help them process their early childhood emotions, attitudes and challenges in positive ways.
Here are the LIVING SKILLS SUBJECTS AND EDUCATIONAL GOALS for AGES 3 – 5 presented in developmental categories and sequencing.
PERSONAL EMOTIONS
FEELING AFRAID – Educational goals should be to define fear as well as its causes and explain how to handle fear in positive instead of negative ways.
FEELING WORRIED – Educational goals should be to define anxiety as well as its causes and explain how to handle anxiety in positive instead of negative ways.
FEELING FRUSTRATED – Educational goals should be to define frustration as well as its causes and explain how to handle frustration in positive instead of negative ways.
FEELING DEFEATED – Educational goals should be to define feelings of defeat as well as its causes and explain how to handle these feelings in positive instead of negative ways.
FEELING GUILTY – Educational goals should be to define guilt as well as its causes and explain how to handle guilt in positive instead of negative ways.
FEELING SAD – Educational goals should be to define sadness as well as its causes and explain how to handle sadness in positive instead of negative ways.
FEELING LONELY – Educational goals should be to define loneliness as well as its causes and explain how to handle loneliness in positive instead of negative ways.
FEELING ANGRY – Educational goals should be to define anger as well as its causes and explain how to handle anger in positive instead of negative ways.
PERSONAL CHALLENGES
BEING SHY – Educational goals should be to define shyness and explain how to replace it with positive social skills that can ward off negative attention.
BEING AWAY FROM HOME – Educational goals should be to acknowledge the difficulty of parent-child separation and explain how to make separations positive instead of negative experiences.
NEW SITUATIONS – Educational goals should be to explain why new experiences are sometimes intimidating and how these experiences can become less scary and more productive.
GETTING HURT – Educational goals should be to explain how the normal fear of getting hurt can be good as long as it does not inhibit one from doing the reasonable things he or she needs or wants to do.
GETTING LOST – Educational goals should be to explain how the fear of getting lost can be replaced with positive behavior that can prevent one from getting lost.
BEING AFRAID TO FAIL – Educational goals should be to explain how the fear of failure can be replaced with positive behavior that can help one succeed.
BEING PATIENT – Educational goals should be to explain the value of being patient and how to develop and exercise patience.
BEING GOOD – Educational goals should be to define what it means to be good and what can be done to replace misbehavior with good behavior.
INTERPERSONAL EMOTIONS
FEELING NEGLECTED – Educational goals should be to define feeling as though you are not cared for explain what can be done to get needs met.
FEELING EMBARRASSED – Educational goals should be to define embarrassment as well as its causes and explain how to handle embarrassment in positive instead of negative ways.
FEELING INFERIOR – Educational goals should be to define feelings of inferiority as well as its causes and explain how to handle these feelings in positive instead of negative ways.
FEELING JEALOUS – Educational goals should be to define jealousy as well as its causes and explain how to handle jealousy in positive instead of negative ways.
FEELING DISAPPOINTED – Educational goals should be to define disappointment as well as its causes and explain how to handle disappointment in positive instead of negative ways.
FEELING CHEATED – Educational goals should be to define feeling cheated as well as its causes and explain how to handle this feeling in positive instead of negative ways.
FEELING REJECTED – Educational goals should be to define feelings of rejection as well as its causes and explain how to handle these feelings in positive instead of negative ways.
FEELING RESENTFUL – Educational goals should be to define the causes of resentful feelings and explain how they can be resolved.
INTERPERSONAL CHALLENGES
NEEDING ATTENTION – Educational goals should be to acknowledge every child’s need for attention and explain how to get positive instead of negative attention.
SAYING “NO” – Educational goals should be to explain when and why it is appropriate to say “no” and teach how to say “no” in a kind, yet effective way.
ACCEPTING “NO” – Educational goals should be to define when and why “no” is a valid answer and teach how to accept a “no” answer graciously.
BEING COOPERATIVE – Educational goals should be to explain how to work and play with others in ways that will benefit everyone involved.
BEING FAIR – Educational goals should be to define fairness and its importance in all relationships and encourage fair play.
PLAYING WITH OTHERS – Educational goals should be to teach how to recruit playmates and how to treat them appropriately.
BEING HELPFUL – Educational goals should be to explain how being helpful can be positive for everyone and teach how to help others.
MAKING OTHERS ANGRY – Educational goals should be to explain why making others angry can be detrimental and how doing so can be avoided.
