Preparing Youth for Adulthood (continued)

Another important thing is encouraging the young people to get a job while they are still in high school. This is vital to teaching them how the world works so they will be better prepared for the realities of the adult world. But a job entails much more than just earning a wage because it also teaches the youngster to be respectful, to listen to instructions, to be on time, to work as a team with other employees, and to learn the value of a dollar.

For the more mundane, but still important, life skills, foster parents can involve the youngsters in their own care. For example, to teach grocery shopping skills, give the young person a short list of things to buy at the store and give them enough money to cover those items. Then have them pick out the items and pay for them. To make it more fun and educational, have a night once a week or so, where the youngster would make dinner for the family and their grocery list would include the ingredients needed for making the dinner. It doesn’t matter if it is a simple tuna fi sh casserole or a “Hamburger Helper” type of dinner; the important thing is that they are learning how to take care of themselves.

The same thing can be done for clothes shopping. Make up a list of the less important clothes that they need, like underwear and socks, and give them enough money to cover those purchases. It will be their decision to decide which brands and prices they will chose in order to come in on-budget.