7 Ways to Help Your Child Become More Independent
It is not surprising if you feel swamped with many commitments making you feel overscheduled and feeling stretched to the limit. However, you can strike a balance between your work, family, and home. Exasperation is high because of the many obligations that fall on you as a parent. You search for ways to lighten the load, but you do not have to look everywhere. You have your family, your most valuable asset.
If you notice your young children want to do things by themselves, you can let them because it is the beginning of independence. You can encourage it because of the following reasons:
Promotes self-esteem, confidence, perseverance, and motivation
Encourages self-reliance
Provides a sense of belongingness and importance
Develops sensitivity and awareness of self and others
Teaches self-motivation
Offers a belief of competence and capability to care for themselves
Trains to become excellent in decision-making
Strengthens critical qualities like concentration, patience, cooperation, self-help, self-trust, and self-discipline
Contributes to the freedom to experience and learn life’s vital lessons
Cause them to be healthy and happy
If you encourage independence in your child, you reduce the burdens you carry daily. Here are 7 ways to promote independence in your family.
Positively Reinforce Independence Early
Kids want to exert their independence, although they also crave boundaries and structure. Even at toddler years, you can allow your child to make decisions like choosing the shirt they want to wear or the color of the cup they want to use in drinking their juice.
Daily activities can open opportunities for you to encourage their independence. Letting your child choose whether they want to have eggs or cereal for breakfast or pick the book they want you to read for their bedtime can foster their independence and build problem-solving skills. Providing age-appropriate tasks can help teach kids responsibility.
You can give younger children time to make their decisions and do things independently. They need time to brush their teeth or dress by themselves. If they do not feel rushed or hurried, they can do their tasks in a relaxed way.
Empower Them
Busy parents cannot do everything; thus, delegating some tasks to young children can do wonders. For instance, you can make them responsible for putting their dirty clothes in their hampers inside their bedrooms. Older children can help to put clean and folded clothes inside their cabinets. High school students can do the laundry.
Young children can help set and clear the table during and after meals. On the other hand, older kids can plan menus, toss a salad, or even come with you for grocery shopping. If you allow them to take charge, you are also taking away some of your daily stress. The children feel they are making significant contributions to the family too.
Give Them Enough Unstructured Time
Your child can gain independence if you give him his downtime. Boredom is helpful for them to foster their interests. They can engage in unstructured play to discover their talents and develop decision-making skills. Allow them to have creative freedom by giving them time to find things that interest them.
Let them spend time on what they want to do. You can encourage your kid's independence if you do not overschedule their free time on weekends and after school with what you want them to do. You can offer ways to nurture their creativity without your guidance.
You may give your child a corner in your living room or their bedroom where they can explore. They go to this area without worries of tidying the room quickly. Instead of telling your kid not to use their crayons on the wall or bounce a ball around the house, you can encourage them to go to their little haven to play safely and independently.
Let Them Make Mistakes
It is natural for parents to protect their kids from harm, disappointments, and heartaches always. However, you know that it is both unhealthy and impossible. You can allow your child to make mistakes and learn from them. Society is pressuring children to be perfect, and parents often cover up their children’s mistakes.
If you do not bail out your child for wrongdoing, you are helping them take a step forward in achieving independence. You must avoid rescuing them if they make mistakes, but you can help them search for a solution. You can teach them to be responsible for their blunders instead of blaming others.
Teach Them to Save and Budget Their Money
If your child has a part-time job or earnings from an allowance, you can teach them about saving and budgeting. Money management is an essential skill that children need to learn today to become financially responsible adults later. It serves as an independent foundation for your child.
Allow Them to Help Themselves
Independence has four components: responsibility, work, accountability, and self-help. As parents, you can teach how to be independent if you focus on these aspects. You may discover that it is challenging to teach about self-help because you are always ready and willing to solve your child’s problems.
You must delay helping the kid to allow them to find a solution. For instance, you can wait a few minutes to help your toddler un-zipper the jacket. Give them time to see if they can find a way by themselves.
Offer Positive Feedback
Offering positive feedback for a job well done is vital in the child’s growth. If they did a good deed, you need to praise them. For example, you tell them that they did a good job when they share a toy or wait for their turn to talk. Consistent reinforcement inspires children to become more responsible and independent. It helps develop a growth mindset in them.
If you notice your child assert independence when they get their bowl and prepare their cereals for breakfast, you can commend them by saying, I am glad you made your breakfast today. You helped me a lot. Thank you. If they get praises for what they did or said, these positive encouragements will build their self-esteem.
Your child will become better prepared in life if you teach independence at an early stage. You empower them to make choices and decisions. Your kid will appreciate the efforts you make if you allow them to make mistakes. As they grow older, you can also teach them about saving and budgeting and provide them the means to help themselves in some situations.
More importantly, you must reinforce any good deed with positive encouragements to make them strive to be more independent and responsible. Training a child may be challenging to some mothers, but if you want them to become better adults, you can help them gain independence while they are young.
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