Being a parent is hard work. Even harder than that is knowing what to teach your son as he grows up. Thats why I’ve compiled this list of 85 skills to teach your son before he’s grown.
1. How To Clean
“Cleanliness is next to Godliness”, that’s what my mother always use to say. Teach your son from a young age how to clean up after himself. Put together a chore chart and start with simple tasks such as cleaning his room or picking up the living room. As he gets older add more complicated chores to the chart.
2. Good Hygiene
“Crazy world. Lotta smells.”
Michael G. Scott
You don’t want your son to be the stinky one. Teach him how to wash, brush, floss, and when to use gum.
3. How To Do Dishes
You don’t want to visit your son at college and find a Mt. Everest of dishes piling up in the sink. Teach him how to do dishes and how it’s easier to get the food off when it’s fresh. This will also go a long ways to making him appreciate a dishwasher.
4. How To Ride A Bike
Riding a bike is the first great lesson in life of, if at first you don’t succeed try, try, again. Being able to ride a bike is a great life skill. I’ll never forget my dad running down the road holding on to me and then letting me go. The burning sensation of skinning my knee up on the road and getting up and trying it again. I didn’t only learn how to ride a bike that day. I also learned the importance of knee pads.
5. How To Make Eye Contact
It’s important to look at someone when they are talking to you. Teach your son from a young age to have eye contact when you are talking to him. This will help him in his professinal life as well as his personal life. If he learns to make correct eye contact he will be able to show confidence at work and when talking to a woman.
6. Be Polite
Please, Thankyou, and Your Welcome go a long ways in life. Also, teach your son to open doors for people and to look for ways to be polite.
7. Be Kind
Being kind is a very important skill to learn. In a world that is becoming increasingly about self gratification it’s important to show others kindness. Teach him to be nice to kids at school that don’t normally get that kind of treatment. Something as simple as saying, “Hello!” or “How are you doing?” can really make that persons day.
8. Serve Others
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?”
Martin Luther King
Serving others is a very important skill to teach your son. When you serve others you will be able to find yourself and true happiness will be found. I have an article on father son volunteer opportunities that you can find here.
9. Be Thrifty
It only takes $27.10 a day in miscellaneous spending to waste $10,000 a year. Teach you son how to save money and the value of a dollar. A lot of money can be saved by doing things yourself and being more self relient.
10. How To Budget
Along with being thrifty, teach your son how to set a budget and stick to it. Open up a bank account for your son when he first starts earning money. This will help him to understand the value of a dollar and how much work it takes to earn money. 41% of marriages end due to a disagreement on money. By having a firm grasp on a budget your won will be able to live within his means and will start off ahead of most of the world.
11. How To Do Laundry
This will prevent his white dress shirts from becoming pink.
12. How To Fry An Egg
One of the most important meals a man cooks is breakfast. Being able to adequately fry an egg is vital to the breakfast meal.
13. Laugh Often
Life is to serious and people are getting increasingly offended by the littlest things. Life’s better when you’re laughing.
14. A Proper Cast
Teach your son how to properly cast a fishing pole and where to cast to find the big fish.
15. How To Patch A Bike Tire
Fixing a bicycle tube is the first step to learning how to repair things. Show your son how to do it and he will be able to fix his own holes for years to come.
16. How To Hammer A Nail
Teach him how to swing a hammer. Be sure to teach him not to throw his hammer when he inevitably hits his finger, no one likes a tool thrower.
17. Benefits Of A 4X4
One of the most beautiful things in the world is getting stuck and being able to put your rig in four wheel drive to get out. Every man should have a 4X4.
18. How To Find The North Star
Teach your son how to find the Big Dipper. If he can do that he can always find the North star. If you don’t know how, find the Big Dipper and the two stars to the right of the ladle form a line. Follow that line across the night sky about the length of the big dipper and it will take you to the Little Dipper. The star at the end of the little dipper is the North star.
19. How To Read A Map
Teach your son how to read a map and what all the icons in the legend mean. This is becoming a lost art with google maps being on every smartphone. In a survival situation being able to read a map could save his life.
20. Importance Of Family
One of the greatest things on Earth is family. Show your son that you will always be there for him and that he can always come to you for advice. Having a strong family unit will really help him out in his life.
21. How To Tell A Joke
Being able to make people laugh is one of the best feelings in the world. It can also be incredibly hard to get certain types of people to laugh. Teach your son how to properly tell a joke. Being able to lighten up a room with laughter will really help him out in his life.
22. How To Clean A Fish
If you son is going to know how to properly fish then he will need to be able to clean them. Teach him how to gut and fillet fish and cook them up for the family.
23. How To Grill A Steak
This may be the most important skill to teach your son. One of the saddest things in life is overcooking a delicious steak. Teach him the finger method for determining the doneness of a steak.
24. The Magic Of Gorilla Glue
Gorilla glue is one of the greatest inventions of all time. When your son inevitably breaks one of his dresser drawers by overloading it, teach him how to fix it with gorilla glue. As he grows teach him to show up anytime the Gorilla Glue comes out so he can learn a new magical application for it.
25. How To Use A Map & Compass
If your son doesn’t know how to use a map then a compass will do him know good. Teach him how to orient a map and use a compass along with it.
26. How To Swim
I was an 11 year old Scout leader and it amazed me how many boys didn’t know how to swim. Swimming is such great exercise and there are so many ways to have fun with swimming. If he doesn’t know how to swim then you won’t be able to go diving, snorkeling, scuba diving, white water rafting, water skiing, wakeboarding, surfing, kayaking, canoeing, and well of course swimming. Teach him how to swim, it will open up the doors to a lot of hobbies for him.
27. First Aid
Being able to perform basic first aid is a great skill to learn. Teach you son how to remain calm in an emergency situation. If you have multiple kids then he will for sure have ample opportunities to stay calm in an emergency situation. I have four kids and there’s not a week that goes by that we are not applying a bandage.
28. Duck Tape Uses
Duck tape really won’t fix everything, but it comes pretty close to fixing everything.
29. How To Drive
Driving as a young man is the first step to freedom. It’s amazing to me that a lot of kids care less and less about driving. Driving is a necessity and being comfortable driving at a young age will help your son out immensely in his life.
30. How To Play Cards
Playing cards is a great way to pass the time and can bring young and old together.
31. How To Care For Another Living Thing
Getting your son a dog is a great way to teach him to care for another living thing. My wife and I got my son a dog about 6 months ago and its amazing how much it’s made him mature. He gets up early in the morning to take his dog out to the bathroom. He also makes sure his dogs gets fed before he gets fed. Taking care of another living thing will make your son more responsible and will help prepare him to one day become a dad.
32. How To Mow A Lawn
Being able to properly mow a lawn will help to make your son a man. Another added benefit is it will make it so you know longer have to mow the lawn.
33. The Superiority Of Power Tools
Hand tools are great but they don’t come close to power tools, just ask Tim the Tool Man Taylor.
34. How To Follow Through
It seems to me that one of the biggest shortcomings of people including me is follow through. Everyone has great ideas or great aspirations, but we lack the follow through. When your son decides he wants to try something be sure he sees it through to the end.
35. How To Write A Resume
Being able to craft a good resume and career profile is crucial to helping your son build a great career. If your son is passionate about a certain career field don’t just stop with helping him with resumes. Why not go out and find businesses that will let him do an internship.
36. How To Interview For A Job
Interviewing for a job can be very intimidating especially your first few times. Look for opportunities for your son to get in front of people. Being able to get over stage fright will go along ways at making him more confident in an interview.
37. How To Drive Stick
Stick shift cars are becoming increasingly more rare these days. According to CarMax 96% of Americans drive automatics. With that being said there’s nothing more manly than being able to drive a stick. You never know when your son’s gonna be behind the wheel of an old Vette with a 5 speed.
38. How To Be Healthy
At a young age teach your son how to make healthy choices. Being in good shape and staying healthy will open up a lot of opportunities for your son. He’s never gonna want to hike up to Machu Pichhu if doesn’t make healthy choices.
39. How To Be Calculated
Being able to take risks in life will give your son a much better quality of life. The important thing about taking risks is taking calculated risks. Teach your son to take risks but prior to taking the risk put in the work to ensure that he will succeed.
40. Taxes
This is something I wish would be taught more in schools. Teach your son what taxes are and when and how to file them.
41. Credit and Debt
A recent study found that 80% of Americans are strapped with debt. Teach your son about credit and debt. Teach him what credit cards and loans are before he gets strapped with credit card and student loan debt at a young age. For my current job I had to attend a training. While at the training I got to know people from all over the country. One individual had told me that he was in 230,00 dollars of student loan debt. He had a masters degree but the job he had didn’t have anything to do with his degree. But worse than that his dream job that required his degree paid 42,000 dollars. At first I thought that this individuals circumstance was rare, but I hear stories all the time similar to his. If you teach your son about debt at a young age then he shouldn’t make this mistake. Spending money for a degree is fine as long as there is a career on the other side that can pay it off.
42. How To Make Home Repairs
Being able to make home repairs really helps out in life. My father added on to our house when I was young. Helping him with that project helped to give me a basic understanding of construction. That foundation made it so I could finish the basement in my current house and make all the repairs on my home.
43. How To Paint A Room
One day when your son is married he will be able to save a lot of money by doing all the painting projects his wife has in mind.
44. How To Treat A Lady
Teach your son to be a gentleman and a treat a lady the way she should be treated.
45. How To Speak Up
Your son has a lot of good ideas. Teach him to speak his mind and that his voice matters.
46. Critical Thinking
Teach your son to questions things and think outside of the box. That’s where real greatness comes from.
47. Be Creative
At a young age foster your sons creativity. Don’t stifle it out the older he gets, encourage his creativity.
48. What To Do When You Get Pulled Over
I have a nephew that got in a minor fender bender leaving high school. He crashed into one of the other students cars as they were both leaving the parking lot. After the accident he stopped for a second and then drove home. Right when he got home he told his mom what had happened. She had to call the students parents and the police. Luckily they live in a small town and nothing bad happened. Be sure that your son knows what to do if he gets in an accident, or pulled over by the police.
49. How To Pitch A Tent
Take your son to the great outdoors. Let him breathe the crisp mountain air and teach him how to set up a tent. Most importantly teach him how to take it down and fit it back in the tiny bag.
50. Know What The Arrow On the Gas Gauge Means
Arming your son with this knowledge will make it so he can fill up any car and pull up the right way to the gas pump.
51. Importance Of Your Word
Your word is your bond. Be sure when your son tells someone he’s going to do something that he actually does it. Teach him how hard it is to earn a good reputation and how easy it is to lose it.
52. Proper Handshake
Giving a good firm handshake say’s a lot about a persons fear, confidence, intention, and control. Having a lousy handshake can hinder a first impression.
53. How To Use YouTube
YouTube is not just for funny prank videos or pimple popping videos. YouTube is an abundance of knowledge. You can educate yourself on almost any problem you encounter with YouTube. If you don’t know how to make those home repairs or file your taxes you can figure it out on YouTube.
54. Social Media
Social Media can be a great medium for connecting with friends and family. However, it can also be a debilitating addiction and source for online bullying. Teach your son the dangers of social media and teach him that the things he posts online will stay there. In the future employers will use his social media profiles to help them determine if they want to hire them.
55. A Job Worth Doing Is Worth Doing Right
If your going to take the time to do something then do it right the first time. It’s easier to do it right once than do it wrong and have to do it over.
56. How To Have A Conversation
With the digital age that we live in booming having personal conversations is becoming a rarity for kids. If your son is able to carry on a meaningful conversation with another person and be comfortable doing it then he will be a huge step ahead of most everyone else.
57. How To Change A Tire
You never know when a tire is going to go flat. One thing you do know for sure is that at some point it will happen and its most likely not going to happen in your driveway. Have your son change the tire on car and put the spare tire on. Also teach him to check the air in his spare tire periodically. One place you don’t want to be in is having a flat tire only to find your spare tire is flat also.
58. How To Check Engine Oil
Being able to check engine oil can prevent a lot of problems. Older cars tend to leak or burn some oil. Being able to check his own oil will make it so he doesn’t run low and burn up his engine. This way he can drive an old beater through college and his early years and not have to worry about a big car payment.
59. How To Chop Firewood
Bring out the inner Paul Bunyan in your son and teach him how to properly swing an axe. You don’t want him to be camping in the woods and sink the axe into his leg.
60. How To Start A Fire
Teach your son multiple ways to start a fire. This will not only help him start a fire on campouts but could also aide in helping him in an emergency situation. Here’s a link to another article I wrote that covers some different fire starting methods.
61. How To Listen
Listening is a great skill in life. Teach your son not to talk just to hear the sound of his own voice. To listens to what other people have to say and be able to take good advice. Another great activity is to take him in the woods and just listen. Sitting silently will bring the forest alive and help get your son centered.
62. Importance Of “No”
Your son needs to know that its ok to disagree and say no to someone. Not only for peer pressure situations where he might be getting pressure to try something such as drugs. But in his adult life in his career for example. If someone has an idea or is going down a path his doesn’t agree with he needs to be able to voice his disagreement with a solution.
63. How To Tie A Proper Knot
If the knot you just tied is easy to untie once the job is done then you know you have a proper knot. Some must know knots are the square knot, double half hitch, clove hitch, taut line hitch, and the bowline knot.
64. How To Backup A Trailer
You don’t want your son to be the guy at the boat ramp that can’t launch the boat. Or the guy that can’t back the trailer into his driveway.
65. How To Open A Jar
If your son gets handed a jar in life he better be able to open it. You don’t want his significant other to lose their faith in him because he can’t open the jar of beans. Teach him how to use a hand towel, or if its real bad to run the lid under hot water.
66. How To Sharpen A Knife
A dull knife is a dangerous knife. Keep your son safe and teach him how to care for his knife by sharpening it.
67. How To Use A Knife
Teach your son how to properly and safely use a knife. Knives are great tools but when you stick one in your hand it hurts real bad. Don’t allow your son to be in that situation.
68. How To Order Car Parts
Teach your son how to call and order parts from O’Reilly’s. Teach him how to look up his oil filter in the store. Possibly more important than that teach him how to look up the parts on rockauto.com that will 9 times out of 10 save him money.
69. How To Talk On The Phone
With people texting more and more talking on the phone is becoming something that is just not done as much anymore. Teach your son how to talk on the phone in a personal and professional manner.
70. How To Relax
In the world of go, go, go being able to relax is extremely important.
71. How To Play Golf
Golf is a fun sport that your son will be able to play throughout his whole life. It’s also a sport that the two of you can bond over while playing.
72. How To Fail
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm”
Winston S. Churchhill
A fear of failure holds many people back from there full potential. Being able to put that fear away and failing is what will make your son successful. There’s no guarantee that you will succeed in life. However, one thing is certain if you never try at your dreams you will surely fail. Keep pushing, keep trying, and stay positive.
73. How To Iron A Shirt
You don’t want your son to go to the big interview with a wrinkled shirt. Teach him how to iron his clothes to keep him looking dapper.
74. How To Believe In Himself
Most of the time we are our own worst enemies. Teach your son how to build self confidence to help him believe in himself.
75. How To Grow A Garden
Having a “green thumb” is a great way to relax and get away from the hustle of everyday life. Also, eating food that you grew is extremely rewarding. A couple of years ago my son came to my wife and I and asked if we could grow a garden. It was great to be able to work together as a family in the garden and being able to partake in all the fresh vegetables at the end of the summer.
76. Be Brave
Your son needs to be brave not only for himself but for others. He should help out those that won’t stick up for themselves. To stand for the things he believes in even if he stands alone.
77. Be Courteous
Teach your son to look for ways to be courteous each day. It could be as simple as holding the car door open for someone or letting someone go ahead of you in line at the store when they only have a couple items.
78. Never Give Up
This goes along with knowing how to fail. As long as he never gives up and keeps pushing he will succeed.
79. Real Men Don’t Need Instructions Is A Lie
Instructions are helpful and will help you put what ever your working on together the right way. They will help to prevent holes in the wall, cursing, and tools being thrown.
80. Build A Good Reputation
Having a good reputation in life is very important and something your son should cherish. It takes a long time to build a good reputation and if your son follows the other skills on this list then his good reputation will come naturally.
81. Try New Things
Try different things with your son. One way you can teach him to try new things is by trying new things with him. If there is something that your son wants to do that you’ve never done before try it with him. Maybe something breaks in your house or on your car. Look up the repair on YouTube and try and fix it together.
82. Be Spontaneous
Being stuck in a cookie cutter life is know fun. Be spontaneous with your son. Go on a last minute trip, go for drives together, or try a new restaurant.
83. Unplug
With the interweb, smart phones, and social media everyone is always connected digitally. Being able to put the phone down and get away from electronics is so therapeutic. If your son will take a day once a month or so to get away from his devices it will help him clear his head and relax.
84. How To Make A Proper Peanut Butter & Honey Sandwich
Lots of peanut butter and you have to mix the honey with the peanut butter before you put it on the sandwich. Don’t mess it up!
85. Most Of All, Have Fun
Having fun is one of the most important things in laugh. It’s important to work hard in life, but it’s equally important to play hard. Don’t spend all your life at the office, or on the road as your son grows up. Have some fun and build memories with him. That way when he’s grown he’ll know how to have fun.