Prioritizing: A Vital Ability in Life

By Carter Helschien

A major concern many parents have is if they are raising their children properly. Generally, parents consider the best method of raising their children to be whatever method best prepares them for the “real world” and adult life. Though there are many aspects to raising children, one skill that I believe is highly important that children be taught as early as possible is the ability to prioritize. Not only does this ability mean that children will be able to balance various aspects of daily life, but they will most likely also have happier, stress-free lives.

The ability to prioritize is a skill that is useful for children and adults alike. Moreover, the ability to prioritize is a skill necessary throughout life.  It is my strong belief that if children are taught very early on how to prioritize, both in school and out, children will be much better prepared to balance the various challenges in adult life.

Almost universally children are taught as early as possible simple tasks deemed necessary for daily life such as how to tie shoes or how to say their “a-b-c’s.” I believe that children should be taught from the same early age how to prioritize various tasks, such as being taught in what order to complete a given five assignments and why. Consequently, teaching children to prioritize will help instill in them vital thinking-patterns that will help teach them specific thought-processes. Furthermore, these thought processes will help them initially and in the long-run to easily manage various aspects of adult life.

Moreover, if children learn from a young age how to manage various responsibilities, they will be able to easily manage such comparatively simple tasks as balancing sports and academics, extra-curriculars, and, as adults, jobs and families. Not only will children be less-stressed when encountering future problems, but they will also easily be able to come up with out-of-the-box solutions to complex problems simply by the fact that they are more focused on an individual task as a result of being able to prioritize their responsibilities.

Prioritizing responsibilities in life is a vital ability that is necessary not only for adults but also for children. Consequently, the earlier children are taught to prioritize, the better-equipped they will be to handle the challenges they encounter in daily life.