The Only Skill Kids Need: Resilience

A friend of mine was freaking out about his two-year-old's future.

"Will education even matter when AI takes over? Should he learn to code? What if there are no jobs?"

I get it. Parents are desperate to prepare kids for a future no one can predict. I mean I should know.

After thinking about it, I told him, "Teach your kid resilience. That's the only thing that can’t be taken from him."

I'm speaking from experience. When I was growing up, the formula was clear: study X, become Y. Medical school = doctor. Engineering school = engineer. For me, it was to follow dad's footsteps into business.

I remember looking at the classifieds daily and gauging each job's salary range. And I would imagine me getting the highest paid opportunity in the list.

But then the Internet happened. I opened my Gmail account in 1998. Google, Yahoo, AskJeeves (I’m a dinosaur), Napster—the Interwebs were so much fun. Then, social media exploded. Then, the iPhone dropped. Suddenly, careers that didn't exist became essential, and skills we had spent years mastering became outdated in months.

Was I prepared for this shift? Not specifically. But what helped wasn't any particular skill—it was the ability to adapt, pivot, and figure things out on the fly.

That's resilience.

This ability to bounce back and face uncertainty without breaking separates those who thrive from those who barely survive when the ground shifts.

Think about it:

• The engineer who became a UX designer when his job was outsourced

• The journalist who became a content strategist when newspapers collapsed

• The taxi driver who figured out the gig economy when Uber arrived

None of them were prepared for these exact changes. But they had something more important: the mental fortitude to adapt.

So what does this mean for raising kids?

Yes, teach them the basics—math, science, communication, and coding. But more importantly, create opportunities for them to:

• Recover from failure (small ones, repeatedly)

• Solve problems without clear instructions

• Understand first principles

• Build things from scratch

• Adapt to changing rules

• Question assumptions

• Be curious

The kid who’s gone through the above will be fine whether we get robots, flying cars, or AI overlords.

Because the world has always changed. The only difference is the speed. And what remains constant is this: those who can adapt will always find their way.

So go ahead and teach your kid Python, Mandarin, piano, or whatever. But make sure they also learn how to fall down seven times and stand up eight.

Because that's the skill no algorithm will ever replace.