When I was a young mom with a preschooler, I attended a Get Your Child Ready for Kindergarten workshop.  I felt so “official” with my notebook and pen ready to hear a list of things that I needed my son, Jack, to know before his first day of public school.  Imagine my surprise when the speaker, a current kindergarten teacher, told the group that the number one skill she wished all kindergartners had on the first day was “opening milk cartons”! 

What?  Yep, she said that school could teach them their colors, shapes, numbers, etc. but the rush of lunchtime left some kindergartners going through an entire lunch period with their hands in the air waiting for help opening up their milk.  It scared me to picture my son helpless without the skills he needed to take care of himself.

This was a revelation to me and one that laid the foundation of my parenting from that day forward.  I began to ask myself what life skills he would need to prevent him from getting stuck and frustrated in a world that moves a mile a minute.