Be the best friend of your child!

Child-Parents relationship is very emotional and sensitive part and built on the basis of affection and esteem. Parents and children are bounded by love and affection, but there is a generation gap between them. Despite the generation gap, parents must always try to be friends with their kids.

The friendship factor works well as parents can have better understanding with their kids, who will then share everything with their parents.

Parents who play the role of being friends with their kids are found to be sharing a strong bond with their children. As children grow older they need more friendliness than parenting from their parents.

A child from his early age has his/her own opinions as well as decisions and which they will hold on. In such situation communicate with your child, let the child feel comfortable to share their thoughts and feelings.Parents have to be patient and non-judgmental while having this discussion with their child so it will better for your child to interact with you like a friend. If you want to become your child's best friend then try to encourage them to talk about their routine, know about his/her friends at school and try to involve yourself in your child's life.

When you are playing friend's role with your child, don't forget that first you are parents and your first responsibility is to ensure safety of your child so don't gratify your child in any activity, which will endanger his security. But, if your child forces you for such then try to convince him/her in a friendly way. Make sure that the rules you have framed for your child should not over restrict them and also ensure that the child clearly understands the rules, so acceptance of enforcement become easier.

It is essential for parents to have a proper balance between parenting and friendship. Parenting plays larger role than friendship as it concerns with teaching essentials of discipline and following rules. But while doing so it may happen that your kid may get angry, which calls for addressing the issue in a friendly manner rather than harsh talks. We can say that friendship and parenting go hand in hand which is essential for having healthy relationship with your child.

Building Kid's foundation skills

Skills are behaviors that a person can learn and improve through practice. Every day, students are learning and practicing skills as they also increase their knowledge in the subjects they study.

Skills can be categorized by how they are used and by whom. Some skills are very specific to a particular activity, job, or industry. Others are needed by all workers, regardless of job, work setting, or industry. These latter skills are often called employability skills. Young people need to be developing these employability skills, and you as a parent can help.

In 1992, the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) produced a national report that identified the skills employers need in today's workplace. These Competencies and Foundation skills are useful in thinking about how school and other activities help your child prepare for the future. You will see that the 3-R's (Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic) are but one part of the picture.

Competencies
Effective workers can productively use:

• Resources - allocating time, money, materials, space, staff.
• Interpersonal Skills - working on teams, teaching others, serving customers, leading, negotiating, and working well with people from culturally diverse backgrounds.
• Information - acquiring and evaluating data, organizing and maintaining files, interpreting and communicating, and using computers to process information.
• Systems - understanding social, organizational, and technological systems, monitoring and correcting performance, and designing or improving systems.
• Technology - selecting equipment and tools, applying technology to specific tasks, and maintaining, and troubleshooting technologies.

The Foundation
Competence requires:

• Basic Skills - reading, writing, arithmetic and mathematics, speaking, and listening.
• Thinking Skills - thinking creatively, making decisions, solving problems, seeing things in the mind's eye, knowing how to learn, and reasoning.
• Personal Qualities - individual responsibility, self-esteem, sociability, self-management, and integrity.

In Oregon, the Employment Department also surveys employers throughout the state. Employers report that work ethic and other soft skills remain in short supply. According to its 2002 Employer Survey, employers in Oregon are looking for these skills:

Percent of Employers	SKILL
99%	Work Ethic	Employers want honest, dependable, and productive workers
96%	English Language	Most jobs require oral and written communication in English.
95%	Reading and Writing	Most jobs require workers to read and write.
94%	Problem Solving and Critical Thinking	Employers want workers who can understand and find answers to problems.
94%	Interpersonal	Businesses - and their employees - thrive when people work well together.
90%	Math	Nearly every job requires some math skills.
68%	Computer Software	Employers need technology-savvy workers.
68%	Leadership	Employers need skilled staff to guide lower-level workers.
58%	Manual Labor	Technology will never completely replace the need for hands-on work.
44%	Tools and Machine	Many employers need workers who can operate certain equipment.
40%	Spanish Language	Employers' need for Spanish-speaking workers has risen with the Hispanic population.

As you can see, in addition to the communication and math skills we typically associate with school, young people need to be learning and practicing a number of other skills. Everyday activities provide opportunities to learn about these skills, think about how we use them, and work on improving them.