How To Prepare Your Kids For A Future That Awaits Them

s parents, we aspire to raise our children to be successful, self-sufficient, and future-ready. We want them to have the skills and knowledge necessary to navigate the ever-changing world.

However, with the present education system still relying on outdated methods, many of us are left wondering what actions we can take to best prepare our children for what's to come.

In this blog, we discuss the importance of raising kids who will be future-ready, the limitations of the current system, and what we, as parents, can do to ensure our children's success.

As published in Fatherly, According to Yong Zhao, "Our schools are still largely focused on teaching content: math, history, reading, etc. Standardized testing emphasizes these subjects.

But in our new world, we should be focused on other skills. For example, passion. What do your kids care about? Schools never ask kids what they care about and what they want to do with their life."

The world is changing at an unprecedented rate, and the future is becoming increasingly uncertain. Thus, as parents, we must ensure our children possess the skills and mindset necessary to succeed in this highly dynamic environment.

However, the traditional education system must be adequately geared towards producing such individuals. Most schools still rely on rote memorization and regurgitation of facts rather than developing critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and communication skills.

Our modern-day educational system is outdated, unfitting, and no longer works. Often referred to as the ¨factory model¨ of education, this system essentially prepares students to become identically programmed specimens in their development, teaching them a very rigid set of theories and skills and pushing out identical versions of the same product. Most of the jobs our current education system prepares our children for will be irrelevant when they are adults.- Mark Esposito, PhD

To ensure that our children are indeed future-ready, we must understand what's relevant and what's not. The future will require individuals who can think for themselves and challenge the status quo.

Therefore, more than grades and degrees are needed to guarantee success. More crucial is adapting, learning, thinking critically and solving complex problems. So, as parents, we need to expose our children to a broad range of subjects, ideas, and concepts that will expand their minds and challenge their analytical abilities.

According to Madeline Levine, the author of Ready or Not: Preparing Our Kids to Thrive in an Uncertain and Rapidly Changing World, "Parents can stop being focused on performance and start being focused on the process. Instead of asking your kid, "What grades did you get?" you ask, "How was that test?" or "How was your day?" The emphasis on performance tells your kids that that's the only thing that matters."

Moreover, we must encourage our children to be lifelong learners by instilling the value of continuous learning and self-improvement in their daily routines.

Simple acts such as reading and exploring ideas outside the classroom, attending workshops, and encouraging them to learn a new skill can tremendously improve their learning capacity.

Right now, in history, we need young people who feel they have agency, and optimists have a far greater sense of agency than pessimists. - Madeline Levine

In conclusion, as parents, we must be proactive to ensure our children are future-ready.

Despite the limitations of the current education system, we can support our children's intellectual growth by implementing practical steps such as encouraging critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving, instilling a culture of lifelong learning, and exposing them to diverse subjects beyond the classroom.

We must remember that our children's success is a product of their upbringing and the value they place on learning and growing as individuals. Let's not wait for change to happen; let's take charge and prepare our kids for the life ahead.