Description and Instructions for Use
Description: Patterned after traditional academic report cards, the Life Skills Report Card (LSRC) has five main categories: Personal Care, Organizational Skills, Respect for Self and Others, Communication, and Social Skills. Each category has six sub-categories. A numerical scale (one being the lowest - five the highest) provides an easy way to chart your child/ren's progress.
Transition Times: Categories and sub-categories on the LSRC are fairly self explanatory with one possible exception -Transition Times. Transition Times refers simply to those hours when anyone in the family is leaving or arriving home. Showing extra sensitivity during Transition Times, and avoiding bringing up non-urgent requests or hot topics until family members are settled, restores an enormous amount of peace and harmony to busy homes.
How do I use the Life Skills Report Card? Update your Life Skills Report Cards on a timetable comparable to academic report cards. Every three or four months, print out a copy of a new report card, and ask your kids to grade themselves. Complete your own copy, then compare your results. This lets you see where your expectations differ from theirs and future energies are best focused. Invite their suggestions when deciding on steps for improvement.
That which you focus on will fluorish. It is said it takes seven compliments to counter the impact of one criticism so....remember to spend the bulk of your review time discussing positives, and limit the areas you select for improvement. Remember always, change doesn't happen overnight. (When was the last time you changed a bad habit?) Acknowledge the difficulty of the journey when your children are changing slowly and look for the times they do make progress, then let them know how much you care and appreciate their efforts.
What age should I begin using the LSRC with my children? Ninety percent of our brain develops between the age of zero and five. Consequently these are very critical years. While you will likely want to wait to utilize the actual Life Skills Report Card itself until second or third grade, you can begin to introduce your very young children to age appropriate terminology and concepts. For example, use smiley stickers on a daily calendar to reward toddlers for placing paper plates in a recycle bin or simply compliment them when they share or pick up their toys. When you do introduce the Life Skills Report Card document to your child/ren, whatever their age, aim to make it an enjoyable event. Do it on a morning when you are both well rested and neither of you have anything pressing. Make their favorite breakfast and have fun with the new activity. Printing it out on colored paper is an easy way to add to the fun factor.
Personalize: Just as no one academic report card is appropriate for all children of all ages and family backgrounds, neither is one Life Skills Report Card. So feel free to personalize yours. For example, replace the word "Other" with Pet Care, or "Spirit" with Church, Temple, Meditation, whatever term best reflects your family values and practices. Please however, in order to retain general consistency in value and utilization, keep the basic outline. It is our sincere hope that one day a child's Life Skills Average will be as valued a term as a child's Grade Point Average.