Importance of developing Life Skills : Urgent Need of our Society

Geetanjali Aribam *

"We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the foundation of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The children cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made and his senses are being developed to him we cannot answer "Tomorrow". His name is "Today". Gabriela Mistral, 1948 (http://www.who.int/nutgrowthdb/en/)

Let me start with a familiar story :

Crocodile and the Monkey

A monkey was living on a mango tree on the bank of the river. The tree was full of ripe mangoes and the monkey enjoyed the sweet and juicy fruit every day. A crocodile was swimming in the river and saw the monkey enjoying himself. He asked, "What is that you are eating. It looks good".

The monkey threw one mango to the crocodile and said "it is a mango". The crocodile loved the taste and every day he came for more mangoes. They became good friends. The crocodile told his wife about the mango and the monkey. She was very curious and asked her husband to bring one mango for her.

When she tasted it, she said, "This fruit is very tasty. Since the monkey eats it every day his meat must taste very good. You bring him home and we can eat him". The crocodile tried to argue but she was adamant. He was sad because, the monkey was a good friend. By the time he reached the mango tree, he made a plan.

He told the monkey that he was invited for lunch and he would take him to his house. The monkey sat on the back of the crocodile and they were crossing the river. When they were half way, the crocodile told the monkey the truth that he will be eaten by his wife. The monkey immediately sensed the danger.

He thought for a while and told the crocodile, "You should have told me this earlier. My stomach is the tastiest part of my body. I have left it on the tree. Come let us go back and bring the stomach". The crocodile hesitated. But, decided to take the monkey back to the tree to fetch the stomach. When they came near the tree, the monkey jumped, sat on the top branch of the tree away from the crocodile and saved his life.

In the above story, the monkey used excellent life skills to save himself from getting killed.

Lets analyse the life skills used by the above characters : Monkey and Crocodile

o Social skills: The monkey built relationship with the crocodile.
o Problem identification: The monkey knew that his life was in danger when the crocodile told the truth.
o Critical thinking for problem solving: The monkey identified an appropriate reason for making the request to go back to the tree.
o Effective communication: He could convince the crocodile to go back to the tree.
o Creative thinking- Identified a creative reason for going back to the tree.
o Creative thinking by the crocodile: to invite the monkey for lunch –the skill was negatively used .

Do you think Life Skills are required? And what are those Life Skills?

According to World Health Organization, Life skills are defined as "the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life ."

The above definition from WHO elucidates the importance of Life Skill training in our society. This is really an urgent need of the hour.

These are the Ten core Life Skills :

o Self-awareness
o Empathy
o Critical thinking
o Creative thinking
o Decision making
o Problem Solving
o Effective communication
o Interpersonal relationship
o Coping with stress
o Coping with emotion

Life skills are distinct from livelihood skills. Life skills are broadly divided into thinking skills, social skills and emotional skills. Individuals with better life skills are able to cope up better with life's uncertainties and they flourish beautifully in whatever conditions they are- in times of distress or happiness.

Life skill education is applicable to all ages of children and adolescents in school. However, the age group targeted is mainly 10 to 18, since young people of this age group seem to be most vulnerable to behaviour related health problems.

Adolescence, a vital stage of growth and development, marks the period of transition from childhood to adulthood. It is characterized by rapid physiological changes and psycho-social maturation. Adolescence is also the stage when young people extend their relationships beyond parents and family and are intensely influenced by their peers and the outside world in general. As adolescents mature cognitively, their mental process becomes more analytical. They are now capable of abstract thinking and of developing an independent ideology.

Adolescence period as we know are years of:

1. Experimentation and risk-taking
2. Giving in to negative pressure
3. Taking uninformed decisions on crucial issues,
4. A period of increased potential but also one of greater vulnerability.
5. Adolescents find it difficult to resist peer pressure. Some of them may succumbed to pressures and engage in experimentation.
6. Aggressive conduct, irresponsible behaviour and substance abuse involve greater risks with regard to physical and mental health.
7. The experiment with smoking and milder drugs can lead to switching over to hard drugs and addiction at a later stage.

In my opinion, Life Skills Training should be mandatory for all the schools as children go through so much of stress in today's world, whether it's the stress for getting excellent marks, peer pressures, managing self- image and self- esteem, family issues etc.