Future-Oriented Parenting, Child-Rearing and Education

The upbringing and education of children is always about their  future. We want to give them the knowledge and the skills they need, so  that they can later be successful in the world of work, build positive  relationships with other people and find personal happiness.

To achieve this goal, we should ask ourselves questions like the  following: How will today's children live in 20 or 40 years? What kind  of world will they have to cope with? What challenges will they face?  How can we make our children "fit for the future"? What knowledge and  key qualifications will they need to be successful in their professional  and private lives in 10 or 20 years?

But the fact is: Although these questions are logical, they are not  asked! Strangely, people tend to think backwards. Parents ask: How was I  raised as a child? Do I want to raise my children in the same way - or  what do I want to change? Educators ask: How can I implement the  curriculum developed for my crèche, kindergarten or preschool? Are all  children acquiring the skills mentioned there? Teachers ask: How do I  realize the goals and contents of the school curriculum in my lessons?  Have my children learned in the last few days what they should have  learned? And when asking these questions, neither educators nor teachers  consider that the educational goals and curriculums are not only  several years old, but that they were created or updated with the  present in mind: What additional knowledge and skills do children need  today?

But we do not want to educate and raise our children for a life in  the past, but for a life in the future! Then they have to prove  themselves. That's why we urgently need to rethink, i.e. consider how  living and working conditions will develop in the coming years and  decades, what qualifications our children will need then and how we can  lay the foundations for there future success now.

This is the goal of future-oriented education. In this online text  future developments are analyzed that are expected to occur in the  coming decades - up to around 2050. From this, skills are derived that  today's children need in order to be successful in their future careers,  to build positive relationships with other people and to find personal  happiness. Afterwards it is described how families, daycare centers and  schools can make children "future-proof".

Future trends and the skills needed in the coming years can only be  predicted with a high degree of uncertainty, since it is ultimately  unclear how the future will develop. It is also difficult to teach  skills that will probably be needed in the future but are not mastered  by today's parents, educators and teachers. Children and young people  should therefore develop learning abilities, creativity and flexibility  so that as adults they can acquire the skills they need themselves. But  the values ​​and attitudes conveyed to children and young people will  also play a major role in the future, as they help determine how the  next generation of adults will deal with major challenges such as  climate change, environmental pollution, population aging, immigration,  knowledge explosion, technological innovations, etc.

This online text does not contain quotations or references. Sources  and additional information on future trends and other topics addressed  here can easily be found on the internet.