Experts notice a paradox of today’s children where a majority of them are more advanced intellectually but behind emotionally.
One reason they point out is the parent’s involvement in their child’s growing up. Overprotective parents tend to pamper their kids to the point of affecting their kid’s normal development.
Seeing your child getting hurt or going through certain difficulties is quite upsetting. However, like a butterfly that needs to get out of the cocoon on their own, kids must also bear the pains of growing up on their own.
When they’re able to deal with difficult things while small, they’ll soon grow up to be calm and self sufficient adults.
Thus, they must be taught how to be self sufficient because it’s the foundation for building their positive self image. Aside from that, when your kids are self sufficient, raising them will become less challenging.
5 Tips To RaiseĀ Independent Children:
1. Give your child a to do list.
Before giving your child a to do list, tell them clearly the value of helping one another. When they do the chores they’ll be aware that they’re contributing something for the family, no matter if it’s even in their own little way.
Make the to do list achievable and ideally, something they enjoy doing. Praise their efforts and thank them for what they’ve done regardless of whether they completed everything on the list or not.
The appreciation is enough to boost their self esteem.
2. Let them do things on their own.
Children have the innate ability to want to do things on their own. Allow them to do what they want, though they do it imperfectly.
Give them the respect for their own choices too. If they prefer a shirt or dress other than what you gave them, allow them to have their own preference.
It’s one way of letting them exercise independence. And when they do not really like the choice they have made of what to wear, they will learn how to make better choices. They’ll train their muscle of choice making to be sharp for more serious things when they grow.
3. Allow them to commit mistakes.
Committing mistakes is part of a child’s learning process, though the same applies to adults as well.
When you allow your child to make mistakes, you’re giving them room to improve themselves. By making mistakes, they will come to differentiate right from wrong.
Some mistakes may irritate you but try your best to muster patience because scolding your child for the wrongs done will only lower their self esteem. When they do a mistake remind them that they are neither less nor more and that you unconditionally love them.
4. Teach them to cook.
Children are observant creatures. Before you knew it, they’re preparing their favorite food the way they saw you do it.
Encourage them to cook by leaving the prepared ingredients in the fridge. Cooking their own food pleases them and encourages their self confidence.
You can make sure they do things safely, but let them learn to cook what they want to cook.
5. Encourage them to improve but do not help them.
With proper encouragement, children will improve on many things like getting higher grades in school or becoming better in sports or any other activity.
When they mess up, focusing on their mistakes won’t help. Instead, encourage them to improve and be there to guide them for the right way of doing things.
If your child asks you to do things for them, lovingly tell them that those things are their responsibility, not yours. Of course, there are exceptions when you can give an extra hand to help them but that’s should not be the norm.
This strategy is helpful to your child in their later years. When faced with a problem as an adult, they will know it’s their responsibility to solve it. They will know they’re confident enough to find a way out just like the way they did as a child.
