Angela deFreitas, Contributor

THERE IS a difference between work and responsibility. Children should be taught how to manage their responsibilities and how to prioritise things they need to do. In this respect, the more responsibility your child has the better. It is, however, just as important not to burden your child with work, especially at the times their focus should be on their lessons.

To know if you are giving your child responsibility or work, ask yourself, 'What values does this work teach them? How does it help with their self-development? Does it make them disadvantaged because their education and long-term development as a quality person are at stake, and does it affect how well they will do in their future education, work and life?'

If you are a parent, you can teach your children to be responsible by assigning different chores to them. These can be chores around the house, chores for a neighbour, an elderly relative or elderly member of the community. Giving children chores will teach them that they must pull their own weight, and that in life and in work situations people rely on others to get things done.

When assigning chores, give your child specific deadlines for completion, as this will encourage them to have a plan of action for completion. For example, having a child iron his or her own school uniform or wash the dishes before school are responsibilities which will help your child in scheduling tasks within a particular time frame. They will learn to prioritise and know in what order things must be done if they are to get them done by a certain time. This type of responsibility will not cause your child to be tired at school and, therefore, unable to focus on their lessons. These are also different to expecting them to go out and sell in order to provide their own lunch money.

You need to protect your children from being overworked. If there are tasks which they must perform, pay attention to how these affect their schoolwork and social development. Look at your children's grades and exam results. If they are getting lower grades, it may be due to being really tired at class time, to having less time for home work and less time and energy for involvement in extra-curricular activities, which are also very important to their progress and development.

Any specific practical activities given to a child must be beneficial to the child's development and should also help to develop a positive work attitude in them.

ACQUIRING SKILLS

Jamaica's national training agency, the HEART/NTA, has coined a phrase 'Skill is Power'. Anyone in today's world must develop what are known as marketable and transferable skills if they are to be successful in their chosen career path. Such skills will drive their success.

You can help your children in this area by encouraging them to:

Learn what skills are, particularly those that are marketable, transferable and motivated.

Identify the skills they already have.

Develop new skills, particularly the foundation skills.

Find out how skills are used at work in various jobs and why they are so important.

Foundation skills

Let us look at the foundation skills. There are seventeen foundation skills which are required for all workers who are a part or may become a part of a high-performance workplace of the 21st century. These skills are broken down into four groups and you should make sure your child is developing in each:

1. The basic skills - reading, writing, mathematics, speaking and listening.

2. Creative thinking - problem-solving skills, decision-making skills and visualisation are classed as the thinking skills.

3. The people skills relate to the social, negotiation, leadership, teamwork skills and cultural diversity.

4. Personal qualities are self-esteem, self-management and responsibility.

How strong are your child'sfoundation skills?

Take a careful look at these skills and help your child to review where they are at with each one and to develop them further. Everyone, not just children, need to be life-long learners and seek opportunities to learn new skills and enhance those they already have.

Children should be encouraged to learn what skills are needed and valued in the industry which they are interested in, now and in the future. A good place to start is to go to the industry itself or by giving them a call at their place of business.

Having a clear picture of what skills are required in the career in which they are interested and in the marketplace generally will help children when the time comes for seeking employment, writing a résumé, having a positive job interview and finding occupations that use similar skills.

Angela deFreitas is general manager, CHOICES Career Advice and publisher/editor of CHOICES Career and Education magazine. She can be contacted at info@choicesonlinejm.com.

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