"How to make your children future ready?" Talk by Vinay Pushpakaran

"How can we prepare our children for an uncertain future?" is a question on every parent's mind. If I expected a talk on reskilling children to future proof them against the AI onslaught or picking areas which will explode into relevance, I was much mistaken.

The talk focused us back on what are permanently relevant skills for all generations - life skills.  

"Children have to learn to collaborate and be team players." was Vinay's first advice as this is a skill which is critical at all times. "There is no profession where collaboration isn't involved." He talked about how parents can actively inculcate collaborative working in their children by involving them in decisions and chores.  

"Many children say they "can't" do something - they have to learn problem solving skills." was the next advice.  Vinay talked about what roles parents can adopt to help the children, develop a problem solving mindset. "Our natural tendency is to dive in  and solve the problem for a child", but this is counter productive.

Children also have to learn communication skills - they have to learn to talk through their issues and problems. Here too, parents play a vital role by role modelling. "See how we explain any point to a colleague or boss. But with our own child, we brush them off." 

Finally, children have to develop empathy. This is a really important skill and outlook. Again, the parents' have to model empathy themselves. How they speak to the child, how they listen, how they guide. 

Vinay's talk was absolutely brilliant and an inspiration to all of us parents.

Vinay is the founder of Future Impact. With over 14 years of corporate experience, he is an entrepreneur, experiential learning facilitator, marketing consultant and coach. His special are of focus is communication, Public Speaking, Leadership, Soft Skill, Team Building and personal effectiveness trainings.  He can be contacted at vinay@future-impact.com.