Life skills are the every day tasks children need to complete in order to participate in life. This includes self-care such as washing, dressing and cleaning teeth. It could also include activities in the community such as managing money. This could be independent living activities such as cooking or cleaning.

Self-care skills require a child to plan, sequence and organise the motor skills needed to complete a task. They also require us to manage our physical and emotional well-being by using our senses and controlling our emotions to stay calm and organised to complete each task. Self-care includes many activities such as washing, dressing, grooming, managing our sleep or performing daily chores like tidying.

These are the life skills that we need when outside our homes. This could be doing the food shop, getting public transport, managing money or arranging and attending appointments. This can often be even more challenging as the community environment is less predictable. It therefore requires more resilience and the ability to adapt skills to the different contexts or situations that arise e.g. “My train is delayed and I am going to be late. What can I do?”

These types of unpredictable situations can be very challenging so a toolbox of strategies are needed to support with this.

These are the skills children need to learn in order to live independently. This could be being able to cook themselves a meal, cleaning or being responsible for their own routine e.g. setting an alarm to wake up.