The World Health Organization defines Life Skills as ‘the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable the individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life’.

Life skills enable children to take positive and constructive actions which protect them in times of threat and also help them to establish beautiful social relationships.

In the current times, it is very important to provide an unbiased platform which is free from any sort of judgement. In the Life Skills Club, the children are given a space where they can explore themselves, get in touch with their needs and achieve a holistic sense of self.

Life skills club for classes 3 to 12 was started with the intention of empowering our students to become happy, healthy and well-adjusted individuals. The present generation is confronted with various challenges which can affect their self-esteem and create obstacles in positive growth. Keeping this in mind the need for this club emerged. We discuss various issues starting from peer pressure, managing emotions, bullying, making healthy choices when confronted with risky situations, effective communication, breaking gender stereotypes, coping with stress, examination anxiety, memory enhancing techniques, healthy interpersonal relationships, etc.

The last few months of covid times have been extremely stressful for children as well as adults. Children are four times at a higher risk of developing psychological problems as compared to adults. During these life skills sessions, they share their innermost feelings with us. Together we try to find solutions to problems. Children help each other by sharing their experiences of how they have tried to be strong in the past few months and motivate each other by sharing ideas of how to keep oneself busy.

The main aim is to help our students to be able to respond to life challenges in a positive and responsible way. Children realise the importance of developing various life skills such as empathy, positive thinking, positive relationships, assertiveness, time management as well as try to overcome unhealthy habits like procrastination and avoidance. They learn to express themselves confidently as well as listen to the other person’s perspective patiently. They begin to challenge beliefs and behaviours which can be detrimental for their growth. The sessions prove to be very cathartic and have an extremely positive impact on the childrens’ self-esteem.

Life skills are skills we can take wherever we go in life, no matter what we do. They promote well-being and are an essential part of a child’s development. They help children face the realities of life and with this purpose this club was started.