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PawSteps · Navigators

Junior Life Skills

The bridge between "mum does it" and "I've got this" · Ages 9–14

✔ Household jobs — the weekly rota that actually works
✔ Kitchen skills level 1: follow a real recipe + kitchen safety rules
✔ Road safety for independent walkers & scooter riders
✔ Pocket money — earn, save, spend, don't regret
✔ Personal kit — looking after your own stuff
✔ Every page ends with a real-world mission

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Navigators · Skill 1

Household Jobs — My Rota

Name:

Date:

Being trusted with jobs is how you earn being trusted with bigger things (later bedtimes, town with friends, more pocket money). Master a job = own that job.

Job skill tree — tick your level for each:

Job	Can do with help	Can do alone	Could teach it!
Make my bed
Empty / load the dishwasher (or wash up)
Put a wash on (see Pathfinders laundry rules!)
Hoover a room properly (corners count)
Take bins out on the right day
Make a hot drink safely for someone
Feed / clean up after a pet

My weekly rota — pick THREE jobs to own this week (day + job):

1.

2.

3.

🎯 Mission: do all three without being reminded ONCE. Reminder-free week achieved? ⬜ (This is the actual skill — the job is easy, the remembering is the training.)

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Navigators · Skill 2

Kitchen Skills — First Real Recipe

Name:

Date:

⚠️ Kitchen safety rules first — tick to agree:

Adult in the house (and knowing!) whenever heat or sharp knives are involved

Wash hands first · long hair tied back · sleeves up

Pan handles turned INWARDS · dry hands before touching plugs

Knife rule: fingers curled under like a claw, cut away from yourself, flat side down

Clean as you go — chefs' secret to not hating cooking

🍳 The recipe: Cheesy Scrambled Eggs on Toast (serves 1, ~10 minutes)

1Crack 2 eggs into a bowl. Whisk with a fork until one colour. (Shell bits? Scoop out with the shell — it works!)

2Put bread in the toaster. Don't push it down yet — timing matters!

3Melt a small knob of butter in a pan on LOW heat.

4Pour in eggs. Push the toaster down NOW. Stir eggs slowly and keep them moving.

5When eggs look nearly done but still shiny, take the pan OFF the heat, stir in a small handful of grated cheese.

6Butter toast, pile eggs on top, eat while hot. Wash the pan (soak it first — trust us).

🎯 Mission report: I cooked it on ____ · Taste out of 10: _ · What I'd do differently:

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Navigators · Skill 3

Road Safety — Independent Traveller Rules

Name:

Date:

Walking or scooting without an adult is a big freedom — these rules are the price of the ticket. They're not babyish; adults who ignore them end up in A&E.

The non-negotiables — tick as agreed:

Headphones OFF (or one ear out) near roads. Your ears spot cars before your eyes do.

Phone away while crossing. The message can wait 8 seconds; that's the whole crossing.

Cross at crossings where they exist — even if it's 30 seconds further. Between parked cars is where accidents live.

Stop, look, listen, THEN walk — look right-left-right in the UK, and keep looking as you cross.

Dark or rain = be seen: bright clothing, lights on the scooter/bike.

Scooter/bike: helmet on. Non-negotiable, even for "just to the shop".

Danger detective — what's risky in each situation and what would you do?

1. Your friend crosses between two parked vans without stopping. Risk:

2. It's getting dark, you're in dark clothes, and the crossing is round the corner. Plan:

3. Your favourite song comes on just as you reach the main road. Plan:

🎯 Mission: walk your regular route WITH an adult, but YOU lead and narrate every decision ("stopping here because…"). Adult sign-off that you nailed it: ______________

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Navigators · Skill 4

Pocket Money — Earn, Save, Spend

Name:

Date:

Money has three jobs: SPEND (fun now), SAVE (bigger fun later), and the secret third one — the pause before buying that stops regret.

My money plan:

Money I get (pocket money, jobs, birthdays): about per

Something big I'm saving for: costing

If I save half my money each week, it will take me about weeks. (Maths in real life!)

The 48-hour rule — for anything over £5:

1Want it? Don't buy it. Write it here instead:

2Wait 48 hours. Do something else. Forget about it if you can.

3Still want it as much after 2 days? Buy it guilt-free. Forgot about it? Your savings say thanks.

Spend detective — smart or regret? Write S or R:

Spending all £10 on game currency in the first 5 minutes ___ · Saving 3 weeks for the thing you actually wanted ___ · Buying sweets because your friend did ___ · Using the 48-hour rule on a £15 impulse ___

🎯 Mission: track every penny you spend for ONE week on a note in your phone. The results usually surprise people. Biggest surprise:

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Navigators · Skill 5

My Kit, My Responsibility

Name:

Date:

The skill that makes school (and later, work) run smoothly: the right stuff, in the right place, the night BEFORE. Ten minutes at 8pm saves thirty minutes of morning panic.

My night-before checklist — personalise it, then USE it:

Bag packed against tomorrow's timetable (not today's!)

PE kit / swim kit if needed: days

Homework IN the bag (done ≠ handed in unless it travels!)

Uniform out, ready to grab

Phone/watch charging — NOT in my bedroom overnight if sleep is tricky

My extras:

Lost property clinic — where do these live in YOUR house? (Decide ONCE, put them there ALWAYS):

Keys live: · Phone lives:

School bag lives: · PE kit lives:

🎯 Mission: run the night-before checklist for one full school week. Mornings that went smoothly: ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ — compare that to last week and tell someone the difference.

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Navigators · Final Page

My Life Skills Level-Up Review

Name:

Date:

All five missions attempted? Rate yourself — then set the next challenge. (When you're ready for the next level: laundry, solo travel, budgeting and cooking full meals live in the Pathfinders workbooks.)

Skill	Mission done?	Confidence /10	Next step
🧹 Owning my jobs (reminder-free!)
🍳 Cooked a real recipe
🚦 Led a route safely
💰 Tracked my money for a week
🎒 Night-before checklist week

🏅 Negotiation corner (use wisely): pick ONE freedom you'd like to earn, and ONE piece of evidence from this book that shows you're ready. Present your case to your grown-up like a lawyer.

The freedom:

My evidence:

Junior Life Skills

Household Jobs — My Rota

Job skill tree — tick your level for each:

My weekly rota — pick THREE jobs to own this week (day + job):

🎯 Mission: do all three without being reminded ONCE. Reminder-free week achieved? ⬜ (This is the actual skill — the job is easy, the remembering is the training.)

Kitchen Skills — First Real Recipe

⚠️ Kitchen safety rules first — tick to agree:

🍳 The recipe: Cheesy Scrambled Eggs on Toast (serves 1, ~10 minutes)

🎯 Mission report: I cooked it on ______ · Taste out of 10: ___ · What I'd do differently:

Road Safety — Independent Traveller Rules

The non-negotiables — tick as agreed:

Danger detective — what's risky in each situation and what would you do?

🎯 Mission: walk your regular route WITH an adult, but YOU lead and narrate every decision ("stopping here because…"). Adult sign-off that you nailed it: ______________

Pocket Money — Earn, Save, Spend

My money plan:

The 48-hour rule — for anything over £5:

Spend detective — smart or regret? Write S or R:

🎯 Mission: track every penny you spend for ONE week on a note in your phone. The results usually surprise people. Biggest surprise:

My Kit, My Responsibility

My night-before checklist — personalise it, then USE it:

Lost property clinic — where do these live in YOUR house? (Decide ONCE, put them there ALWAYS):

🎯 Mission: run the night-before checklist for one full school week. Mornings that went smoothly: ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ — compare that to last week and tell someone the difference.

My Life Skills Level-Up Review

🏅 Negotiation corner (use wisely): pick ONE freedom you'd like to earn, and ONE piece of evidence from this book that shows you're ready. Present your case to your grown-up like a lawyer.

🎯 Mission report: I cooked it on ____ · Taste out of 10: _ · What I'd do differently: