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Rochester Local

Paper Clips and Bottom Wiping: Life Skills You May Not Realize You Need To Teach Your Child

colorful paperclipsI’m in my 18th year of working in an elementary school, but only my 11th year of parenting. Through those years, I have met and taught hundreds of elementary age students and parented two of them. I’ve had a few entertaining encounters as I came to a realization about a life skill I needed to explicitly teach my students (or offspring). My apologies to anyone out there who has delicate sensibilities, because this post WILL contain references to poop and germs.

Skill 1: How to wipe your bottom so it ends up clean

Any parents who have gone through teaching their child to use the toilet can attest that wiping is not an easy skill to teach. The kiddo has to balance on the seat while reaching behind them…it’s a lot to manage! You may have seen the viral video (also featured on the Today Show) of a teacher actually helping kids learn this skill. Parents, please work on this at home! Also teach your child how to realize that they have not gotten their bottom clean, such as if their bottom is itchy, or if they wipe after only urinating and there is poop on the toilet paper. Teach them to tell their trusted adult if that area of their body is hurting or uncomfortable so that their adult can help them figure it out.

Skill 2: How to drink from a water fountain

I once walked up to a first grade student lapping water from the drain basin of the water fountain instead of using the drinking jet to shoot the water into his mouth. Teach your child to shoot the water from the jet into their mouth without putting their mouth on the jet itself to help them avoid germs. And while you’re at it, make sure to teach them how to minimize their germ exposure in a public restroom!

Skill 3: How to tell you’ve outgrown your clothes or shoes

My daughter once told me that her big toe was hurting, and showed me the callus that had built up there because her feet had outgrown her shoes. She had no idea of the cause of her discomfort…just that it hurt. Once I told her to let me know if her shoes started to rub her feet funny so we could check to see if her feet had outgrown her shoes, she understood that the discomfort was connected to them getting too small. We also connected that to the waistband of your pants squeezing too much, or if your belly is getting chilly because your shirt doesn’t cover it.

Skill 4: How to use a paperclip and stapler

This past year, I handed each team of fourth graders 10 pages clipped together by a paper clip. The hysterical ways they returned their “clipped” pages made me realize that most of them had no idea how a paper clip actually worked, so we stopped and did a mini lesson on how the papers get “squeezed” from either side by the two curves of the clip. Elementary school kiddos also get a real thrill when allowed to staple pages together. When we work on it at school, we talk about lining up the papers, and making sure to press the stapler down firmly.

Skill 5: How to talk on a phone (and maybe even a little lesson on why we say “dial” the phone)

For some reason, my own offspring are totally phone-challenged. They like to look at the phone screen instead of holding the phone up to their ear, so then they miss what the person is saying. They are otherwise pretty smart kids, so I am assuming that they are not the only kids stymied by this. The fact that so few people use actual handset phones any more makes this less obvious than when I grew up and you had to hold the earpiece and mouthpiece correctly to have any chance at a good conversation. If you haven’t watched the “Kids React” videos before, the Rotary Phone video is worth watching. You should also coach your kids through the proper manners of greeting/introducing themself when they initiate a call so they have an idea how to start a polite phone conversation.

Skill 6: If your tummy hurts, you may just need to poop

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the phrase, “My tummy really hurts.” My automatic reply is now, “When was the last time you pooped?” Pooping can solve *many* tummy aches and it’s a good thing for your kid to know that their body is sending them a signal that they need to try and take care of business. At my house we also talk a lot about eating foods and drinking water to help make sure that pooping is an easy business to take care of. Just like kids don’t connect the tummy discomfort to needing to poop, they are also unlikely to connect a headache to needing to drink more water unless you teach them that body signal they might be getting. In our house, we promote to our kids that they should let us know when their body is giving them signals so we can help them try and figure those signals out. When in doubt, talk to your grown up so they can help you solve the problem.

Even though you may not be a teacher who works with a bunch of kids daily, I’m sure you’ve had some similar revelations in your life, and I’d love to hear your life skill tips below!

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