Why does my teen not handle life well? Is everything always a catastrophe in their world? It may be because they have not mastered important life skills. Life skills are skills necessary to effectively manage the challenges of everyday life. Parents should teach teens Life Skills to make them confident, independent, adaptable, and caring adults. As a result, both their professional and personal lives will be more successful.

There are three components of Life Skills: 1) Thinking, Problem-Solving & Decision-Making Skills, 2) Interpersonal & Communication Skills, and 3) Coping & Self-Management Skills. In Life Skills to Teach Your Children Before They Graduate we covered Thinking, Problem-Solving & Decision-Making Skills. In this post, we will concentrate on the second component, Interpersonal & Communication Skills.

Interpersonal & Communication Skills

If you plan for your child to grow up and live anywhere other than one of your bedrooms for the rest of his or her life, Interpersonal & Communication Skills are must-learn skills. These skills allow people to live, work, and interact with each other successfully. Teaching teens these life skills will allow them to understand and respect others, express their feelings and needs to others, manage conflict, and cooperate with others. This set of life skills is the foundation for social behavior and allows your child to be accepted in society. Interpersonal & Communication Skills can be broken down into three life skills: Effective Communication Skills, Empathy Skills, and Interpersonal Relationship Skills. Let’s dive into each of these to teach teens these life skills.

Teach Teens Effective Communication Life Skill

Effective Communication Skills is the process of delivering an intended message to two or more people and those receiving the message understanding the message as intended. Both the person delivering the message and the person receiving the message must be actively involved. One must use not only verbal skills, but also non-verbal and listening skills for successful communication.

Teach your teens effective communication skills as they have conversations with you in your home. Your teens should practice, active listening. Active listening is listening to understand and not just listening to respond. Have your teens listen to your tone and watch your body language to see if they can gather more information about your conversations. Make sure your teen learns to keep eye contact during conversations. Your teens should learn to ask questions to ensure they are understanding the intent of the conversation.

When it comes to speaking, your teen should keep their message simple. Have your teens practice speaking confidently and assertively. Assertiveness has gotten a bad rap. People mistake assertiveness for bossiness. But, in reality, that is not what assertive means. Being assertive is the ability to share your honest thoughts and feelings respectfully. I understand that honesty can be hard for people to hear sometimes, but as long as it is delivered with respect, it is a great quality to have.

Teach Teens Empathy Life Skills

Empathy Life Skills are the abilities to feel what others might be feeling in a situation and to feel compassion towards them. While some people are born with the ability to have empathy, the skill has to be seen and experienced to be learned. Children learn empathy by experiencing the empathy their own parents show to them and others. So practice your empathy skills to help your teen learn from you.

Not only does empathy allow us to feel what others are feeling, but it also allows us to see things from another’s perspective. If you remember from the first post of this Life Skills Series (Life Skills to Teach Teens Before They Graduate), seeing things from other’s perspectives is one way to practice the Creative Thinking Skill, also. And being empathetic is also a skill that helps with Effective Communication Skills. You can start to see how these life skills we discuss in this series are interrelated.

Some ways your teen can practice empathy is to become aware of emotions. They should acknowledge their own and other’s emotions, not judge them. Acknowledging their own emotions is a challenge for some teens, especially those who are not comfortable with being vulnerable. But, push them to open up more because vulnerability is important to having close relationships. As stated earlier, your teen should also try to imagine how they would feel in the other’s situation. However, make sure your teen knows they should resist the urge to fix the situation. Empathy is not about fixing a problem. It’s about showing you care. Instead of trying to fix the situation, ask if there is anything they could do to support the person in distress.

Teach Teens Interpersonal Relationship Life Skills

Interpersonal Relationship Skills are skills that promote healthy relationships. Life is built on relationships with others; relationships with family, co-workers, friends, and neighbors. The better and more healthy relationships are, the more fulfilling life will be.

Here are a few ways for your teen to practice their Interpersonal Relationship Skills. They should have a positive attitude when engaging with others. They should also understand and accept that everyone is different. And it is those differences; different beliefs, different opinions, different values, different strengths, and different weaknesses that have the potential for greatness if valued and respected.

Teens should practice being comfortable with their own beliefs, opinions, values, strengths and weaknesses. But, they should also be comfortable with those who have different beliefs, opinions, values, strengths, and weaknesses than their own. They should not judge and should be empathetic with those who are different from themself. By doing this, our teens will learn to manage conflict and have successful conversations. This is where real teamwork can begin and the biggest challenges can be overcome. As part of this, teens should also learn to accept feedback from others. Too many times teens see feedback as negative criticism instead of a constructive way to better themselves. And we all should be striving to better ourselves every day.

As you might think, Effective Communications Skills and Empathy Skills play a big role in Interpersonal Relationship Skills. Having your teen practice these skills will only improve their Interpersonal Relationship Skills. And in turn, give them a greater chance of success in life.

Now that we have discussed the aspects of Interpersonal & Communication Life Skills, let’s get to it and teach teens life skills to improve their future selves!

In case you missed the first post of this Life Skills series that discussed Thinking, Problem-Solving & Decision-Making Skills, check it out at Life Skills to Teach Your Teen Before They Graduate. In the next post of this series, Life Skills Teens Should Learn for a Successful Future, we will be looking at the third component of life skills, Coping & Self-Management Life Skills.

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