Why Life has so many challenges?It is important for a school children to be aware of the challenges ahead and be equipped to encounter them with positive mind.
Abilities to adapt positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life. These are inter and intra personal skills that can help people to make an informed decision.
A child should be taught to communicate effectively ,develop coping strategies and self management skills. The reflective divergent teacher should help them to bring change in their community that include conducive hygienic health and other development programmes. Life skills is a living subject which can be taught to the growing children to model their abilities so that they can learn as they are practising it.
Benefits of life skills that can be learned and acquired by children through active learning is that they do role plays which are important when promoting the community as they express their abilities to look after themselves and relate it to others.
One may ask: 'Why life skills may be taught in primary schools' education system?' Usually our communities in the past has traditional mechanism roled to elders,aunts ,uncles and other members of the family lineage for passing on life skills. These are no longer available because of massive migration which result in members of the family scattered far away in the diaspora due to economical needs.
The HIV &AIDS pandemic ,violence and other disease outbreaks cause many deaths which consequently left many children as orphans who head household without parents or mutual guardians so the school should chip in to take the role of teaching life skills so that young children ,the valuable asserts of the society 's survival deal constructively with decisions about their life ,but based on the available information.
The merits of teaching life skills in the open lessons situations give the learners enough room to express themselves in open discussions sharpening each other through their different exprience backgrounds.
Problem solving technique equipped children with the ability to cope with very difficult situation and enables them to deal with some difficult problems. They become creative thinkers both in decision making and problem solving. Exploration of other alternatives by looking beyond their direct experience will help them in wide spheres of community life.
Communication can be either verbal or non verbal which involved in practical conversations ,thus the ability to express oneself both verbally and non verbally. A child can now being able to express opinions,desires ,needs ,wants and motives.
Interpersonal relational skills help children to relate with other people of different ages ,religions,races,nationalities and economical status. The ability also put them good relationship with family members and keep friendly constructive companionship with others.
Children then develop the sense of self awareness of knowing oneself and being able to know what stresses them.
They can be able to cope with emotions to control intense emotions,sorrow or anger and being aware of emotions which can affect their health and their behavioural moods.
Stress management is to avoid uncontrollable stresses which has negative detrimental effects to their health by being able to deal with disappointments through tracing the root cause of such massive stresses. They should recognise how stresses are affecting them and reduce the sources of this unmanageable stresses.
Empathy is the ability to listen and understand one another person's needs and circumstances so that they can able to imagine what life is to another person and should be able to accept individual differences so that they can tolerate those infected and affected by incurable diseases such as HIV&AIDS and mental disorders. They should also being in a position to tolerate those being stigmatised and victimised.
Good conflict management is to use friends if failed to handle your situations. Ability to negatiate for safe sexual relationships so that they can avoid the cases of rape and learn to exercise refusal skills to say NO when they say 'NO'.
