Get teaching kids life skills down to a tea

WE SPEND a barrel-load of time fretting about children’s mental health ~ and it’s right to concern ourselves with their happiness and spiritual equilibrium — but I wonder if we might be missing a trick? Somewhere on the way we seem to have sidelined or perhaps forgotten the importance of equipping them with purely practical skills.

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We've dismissed the fact that each fresh skill acquired adds immeasurably to a young person’s self-esteem. The more accomplishments they notch up, the more valuable they know they have become. Teach a child to boil an egg, use the toaster and make a brew and you transform them not just into one of life’s survivors - they’ll never know hunger — but into a host. As a tea-maker, they’re given the blessing of dispensing hospitality. Armed with kettle and biscuits, they enjoy the satisfaction of making others welcome.