15 Important Life Skills Topics for Fathers’ Day Gatherings
Fathers. Step-Dads. Foster Dads. Big Brothers. Role Models.
Why do we stop one day a year to honor those who have a fatherly role in our lives?
What can we pass on to kids so they not only develop important life skills, values and their own moral compass, but become great role models for the next generation?
This weekend, why not do more than pass the bbq sauce. Why not pass on some wisdom through old-fashioned talking, sharing and explaining?
Kids can learn from your mistakes as well as your successes. They appreciate honesty and can see through insincere or phony attempts to connect with them.
Listen. Discover your kids’ concerns, anxieties and dreams. Share your own.
Discuss who your role models are now and why you have come to respect them.
Who was the greatest father figure in your life? Why him?
The fifteen words below are good conversation starters. You can begin by looking them up, talking about the literal definition and then how the concept applies in school, at work and in life. Or to being a good father.
Look to current events if you need examples of inspiring role models or those who are downright disappointing.
Connect values and behaviors to outcomes. Talk about how choices affect a person’s future.
Think about people you have worked with, people in your community or church, characters in books and movies, historical and religious figures and family members who represent the good, the bad or the interesting. See what it takes to engage your child in a meaningful discussion.
Talk about your kids becoming parents someday.
Add to this list. What skills, abilities and attributes do you want your kids to have as a foundation for how they live their lives?
1. integrity
2. compassion
3. loyalty
4. accountability
5. creativity
6. generosity
7. flexibility
8. team spirit
9. vision
10. patience
11. honesty
12. pride
13. humility
14. humor
15. perseverance
These discussions are very important and truly form the foundation for skills development in all areas of life. They will help make you and your kids very careerwise too.
CareerWise™ products are based on the premise that any adult can help prepare kids for safe, fulfilling and productive futures. The first steps are building their self-confidence and motivating them to stay in school so they can grow up and get a job someday. www.GetCareerWise.com
Vacation Topic: Choosing Friends Carefully is a Life Skill
Most adults know which ‘friends’ are good influences and which aren’t so great.
The word ‘frenemy’ was coined for a good reason! Sometimes it’s hard to tell who wants you to be the best you can be and who would enjoy seeing you fail.
Whether it’s as seemingly harmless as their trying to get you to eat food you’re trying to avoid, participate in gossip that hurts others, procrastinate rather than tackling a job at hand, spend money you should save – or something more dangerous -you know who has your best interest at heart.
But kids have to learn about bad influences and how to avoid them or at least keep them at bay. One of the greatest skills an adult can teach children is how to surround themselves with the best influences possible.
Overtly dangerous or destructive people are usually easier to ferret out than those who slowly chip away at your self-esteem and values.
I read this little reminder in a newsletter I received recently. I like the theatre metaphor it uses and think that kids (and adults) can relate to it. See what you think:
“Life is a theatre. Invite your audience carefully. Not everyone gets to have a front row seat.”
Think about it.
There are some people in your life who need to be loved from a distance. It’s not that you don’t want them in your life, but you don’t want them to have too much influence or power over your thoughts, actions and beliefs.
It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you let go, or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, not-going-anywhere friendships.
Pay attention to your ‘friends.’
Which ones lift? Which ones lean?
Which ones encourage and which ones discourage?
Which ones are on a path of growth uphill? Which ones are sliding downhill?
Which ones are filled with drama and doubt?
Which ones motivate you and fill you with excitement?
When you leave certain people, do you feel better or worse?
The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you, the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.”
I don’t know who wrote this, but I think the skills it points to are good for any of us to have in our life skills toolbox.
While you have more time with kids over summer vacation – perhaps in the car, around a campfire, or while having a family BBQ -share these thoughts and discuss what they mean.
Self-esteem, self-confidence and self-respect are strengthened by understanding that everyone has the right to choose who is front and center in their lives.
(Hint: They are the ones in the front row clapping and cheering you on!)
GetCareerWise.com career and life skills resources help open kids’ eyes to all the wonderful jobs there are in the world. Along the way they learn valuable career and life skills. And, they learn the importance of developing marketable skills so they can live independent and productive lives doing something they enjoy.
Explore nursing careers – National Nurses Week May 5-12
Nursing is the fastest-growing occupation in the US. Nurses make up the majority of the healthcare industry, and that number’s going up, with 581,500 more nursing jobs by 2018. Why? There are a lot of reasons, including an aging population and a shrinking nursing workforce.
This projection is from the American Nursing Association (http://careers.ana.org/).
What a great time to talk nursing careers!
National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6 through May 12, which is the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.
Because CareerWise find lists fascinating and a great way to excite kids about all their career options (check out our posters with lists of 1001 Job Titles from A to Z, 201 STEM Jobs and 201 Green Jobs), I started to list all the places I’ve seen, heard or read about nurses applying their skills.
Nurses specialize in areas of practice just as other professionals do. A list of specialty or practice areas would be a very interesting one for students to compile for themselves through all the wonderful National Nurses Week information in the news this month.
But for another perspective on nursing careers, students can look at interesting places where nurses work.
My list will get them started:
- Hospitals and Medical Centers
- Outpatient Facilities
- Schools & Universities
- Cruise Ships
- Resorts & Amusement Parks (Disneyland has more than one nurse on staff!)
- Emergency Facilities
- Private Practice Physician Offices
- Senior Care Residences
- Rehabilitation Centers
- Hospice Facilities
- Military Bases – Domestic & Overseas
- Home Health Services
- Nursing Schools
- Travel Nursing Agency
- Pharmacies
There is a lot to learn about the many rewards of nursing and the career paths nurses can take throughout their working lives.
National Nurses Week is the perfect time to explore them. And to thank the dedicated nurses who provide skilled care to all of us when we need it!
Check out our website for wonderful products for home and classroom career exploration. We’re former HR marketing execs who had the chance to discover fabulous career choices as we worked with clients in various industries across the country. We know there are great job choices for all students. They just need to know about them! And once they do, school becomes much more meaningful and relevant.
Timely STEM Jobs to Consider – Homeland Security & First Responders
It has been a sad and challenging time in our country. The terrible events in Boston and West, Texas, following on the heels of other national tragedies wrought by Mother Nature and horribly off-balance individuals, have us all feeling a mix of emotions: outrage, sadness, compassion, gratefulness and a need to help.
There are no silver linings. But we, as a nation, are once again acknowledging the heroic men and women who are the first and last on the scenes of such devastation.
It made me want to know more about everyone involved in these awe-inspiring efforts as well as the professionals who respond to daily emergencies in our communities.
There are some very interesting sites filled with information about profiles of various jobs, training requirements and programs and innovations related to Homeland Security and First Responders.
Science, technology, engineering and math are essential skills needed to help prepare for, stop, communicate about or respond to emergencies of every scale. Students might be fascinated by the interesting ways their school subjects relate to national security.
I found this list of words on the U.S. Governments Homeland Security site (https://communities.firstresponder.gov/web/guest;jsessionid=62181F1B2BBFE9F5D8175962098A9843.w4)
I know each word is related to a career or area of expertise. It would be a good exercise for students to find out what they are and how they help keep our world a safer place.
· alerts
· best practices
· calendar events
· communications
· document library
· emergency
· emergency management
· emergency medical services
· explosives
· federal government employee
· fema
· firefighter
· first responder
· government support contractor
· hazardous materials hazmat
· healthcare
· information
· intelligence
· law enforcement
· local government employee
· police
· preparedness
· search and rescue
· security
· social media
· technology
This is another interesting site, with links to information about First Responders and their certifications, job profiles and professional organizations:
www.firstresponder.gov/Pages/Category.aspx?Category=EMS
This is from the U.S. Governments Homeland Security website too. It would be interesting to look through it to better understand opening, job requirements and educational and skills needs.
Search Job Postings
All Department of Homeland job opportunities are posted to USAJOBS.gov, the job board of the federal government: DHS Jobs at USAJOBS.gov
Getting careerwise makes everyone’s future more secure. Help kids think about emerging career paths that they can help shape if they have the right foundational STEM skills.
Check out our website for wonderful products for home and classroom career exploration. We’re former HR marketing execs who had the chance to discover fabulous career choices as we worked with clients in various industries across the country. We know there are great job choices for all students. They just need to know about them! And once they do, school becomes much more meaningful and relevant.
STEM Alert: From video games to drone pilot? Sky high career paths!
My goodness. There are so many fascinating news and research stories about drones lately.
I’ve read or heard about STEM professionals who are exploring the ways in which drones could be used in fields ranging through these and other areas of study:
- Firefighting
- Search & Rescue
- Volcanology
- Climatology
- Communications
- Transportation
- Oceanography (drones aren’t necessarily aerial)
Popular Science (popsci.com) has real and outlandish depictions of what drones could be used for in the future. Some are humorous, some fascinating. All are thought-provoking.
NPR (npr.com) had a very interesting report last week about how first responders (firefighters, paramedics, search & rescue professionals) are investigating drone use in their activities to speed response times to save more lives, wildlife and environments.
There are groups who are focusing on drones in a somewhat negative manner, discussing their potential, harmful use for illegal surveillance, data gathering and in warfare. That’s an interesting topic in and of itself. The moral and ethical implications of any new technologies should be part of workforce discussions.
But the use of drones by the military is reshaping it in many ways, hopefully to save lives and increase security.
Here’s an excerpt from an article by Nidhi Subbaraman (from NBC News.com) that students will find interesting.
In the Virtual Cockpit: What it takes to fly a drone
Over the last few years, the military has been taking on drones faster than it can train pilots. The old guard, airmen and women who clocked flight hours in regular aircraft before taking control of a Predator, is being replaced by a generation of cadets with basic flight training and hours and hours of video game time. Drones themselves are evolving into complex automatons, making novel demands on their minders’ brains and bodies. Scientists who study how machines and humans work together are only just filling in our understanding of what it really means to be a drone pilot.
Which is just as well, since some believe the newest recruits into drone flight school are already wired differently. “They grow up playing Xbox and Nintendo and gaming systems … they have a different multitasking capability, they collaborate differently with their fellow pilots” and other operators, said Brad Hoagland, a colonel with 23 years in the Air Force, who is now studying drones and drone pilots as a Federal Executive Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Hmmm…It seems like looking into this amazing new area of study and innovation would be right up the alley of many students interested in graduating with marketable skills that will be in-demand by companies in all sorts of career clusters in the years to come.
What a great topic for classroom, home, youth group and mentoring discussions, research papers and projects. I’m sure more than a few Science Fairs have student-made drones on display already!
I don’t mean to drone on and on ….but this fascinating topic could help a lot of kids getcareerwise!
