In a world where technology is changing as quickly as it is, it can be tough for adults to keep up, never mind trying to anticipate their children’s educational needs for the future.
How do you prepare a child for the jobs of tomorrow with a future that you can’t even picture? It can be tough, but luckily, there are experts that are looking ahead and they’re offering advice to parents who want to make sure that their children aren’t left behind in the technological maze that lies ahead. If you’re looking to give your child a leg up, here’s some of the basics you need to know to help keep them one step ahead of the competition.
What Field Should I Prepare My Child For The Jobs Of Tomorrow?
According to the experts (in this case, the World Economic Forum), a shocking 65% of young people will actually move into jobs that haven’t been invented yet. This means that if you’re dead set on your child entering a specific career now, you might be disappointed to learn that it no longer exists in the future.
So how do you prepare for this sort of challenge? The answer is simple – you need to make sure that you (and your child) are fluid in terms of your expectations for the future. Be prepared to change your mind – and then change it again – and make sure that when it comes to training, you’re open to developing with the needs of the future.
Should my Child Learn how to Code?
Coding used to be something best left to professionals but these days, most people know some basic coding principles, even if they’re not aware of it. In the future, it’s predicted that coding will play a much bigger role in people’s lives as more facets of our existence moves to an online platform.
These days, you can find an app for just about anything and it’s only going to become more common for us to turn to technology to meet our needs. Someone who can code will also be able to create products that meet those needs, and this gives them a better chance at a successful professional career.
How Do I Start Teaching my Child to Code?
If you’re not sure how to code, it can be tough to teach this to your child. Luckily, there are toys to help you do just that. The Cubetto kit, for example, is a $225 product that is being used throughout the country to help children learn the basics of coding.
It’s a fun and interactive way to learn a skill that will be invaluable to them down the road, which makes it more than worth the investment.
How Can Technology Help My Child Learn Better?
Children will not only use technology to improve their future prospects by learning how to work with it – technology can also impact the environment in which a child learns, allowing them to improve the quality of the experience.
A product called Ambinode, for example, is being used to monitor environmental factors such as noise and temperature, allowing teachers to make adjustments within the classroom that will help students to focus better. The device is hooked up to the teacher’s smartphone, allowing them to make adjustments quickly as easily.
If you think that environmental factors don’t play an integral role in a student’s success, think again – according to the University of Salford, these factors can actually impact the progress of a student by nearly 16% each year.
How Do I Model Success to my Child?
If you want to prepare your child for success, you need to model behaviors that they will use to achieve their goals. It has been proven time and time again that children model their parents’ behavior, rather than listening to their words alone.
With this in mind, it’s important that you are open to change and continue to develop your own skills, so your children will fall into their patterns themselves. If coding is something your child should be learning, why not learn along with them? After all, it’s not just your children that you’ll be assisting in widening their options for success, but your own too.
