life skills

Everyday essential abilities

Life skills are practical abilities needed to navigate daily existence—managing money, cooking, doing laundry, maintaining relationships, solving problems.

The term often appears in educational contexts, where programs teach young people competencies they might not learn at home: The high school added a life skills class covering budgeting and basic car maintenance.

Life skills can also include emotional capabilities like communication and conflict resolution.

Opposites
practical vs. theoretical knowledge

life skillsbook learning

Knowledge from study

abstract reasoning · esoteric knowledge · scholarly pursuits · pure theory · pure mathematics

competence vs. incompetence

life skillsincompetence

Lack of required skill

helplessness · learned helplessness · ineptitude · cluelessness · dysfunction

self-reliance vs. dependence

life skillsdependence

State of needing another

helplessness · codependence · immaturity · arrested development

Family

life, skills

Familiarity
Top 50,000
Profile
Known to kids · Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Positive · Everyday, not technical · Rated G