Raising Independent, Helpful Children
Is it Time for a Self-Help Skills Inventory?
Ask yourself, what am I doing for my children that they could be doing for themselves? What could they learn to do with a little more guidance or time to practice?
In the short term it takes time and patience to teach self-help skills. In the long run, you'll get this time back as your children do more for themselves & help out more around the house.
I'll give you an example. With my daughter I held out her under wear for her to step into for so long that by age 6 she was still putting them on backwards or inside out. This was my fault. Hey, it was easier and quicker and I had time to do it with only one child. I learned my lesson. I showed my son twice at age two how to put on his underwear and from then on just handed them to him.
Which brings me to another area. My daughter has been putting away her own laundry for some time now & I thought that my son couldn't because he couldn't reach all of his drawers. I had put commonly used clothes like socks, underwear, pajamas and play clothes in the top drawers that were convenient for me. I had out of season and dressier clothes down low. A simple switch made it possible for him to not only put away his own clothes but get them out when asked as well.
Simple rearranging of household items can assist your children in being more independent. Can they reach clean towels in a linen closet? Can they reach cups? Can they reach paper/cloth napkins for setting the table?
Other issues like dressing have more to with time and opportunity than placement. Often putting on shoes or zipping coats are difficult because we only ask them to try when we are ready to go out the door. Give kids more lead time or better yet a chance to practice when there is no pressure at all.
Take some time this week to think about your kids can help themselves & you around the house. Are they setting the table? Clearing it? Even a two year old can throw away paper napkins or collect cloth ones.
For more fun ideas about interesting jobs that your kids can do at home you may enjoy Why Your Kids Should Never Be Bored &
More Reasons Why Your Kids Should Never Be Bored.
Teaching self-help skills & giving kids chores builds confidence & reduces stress for the whole family.
Published by Angela W. La Fon - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle
As a teacher and a writer Angela enjoys researching, organizing and presenting information in an entertaining way. View profile
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- Building self-help skills increases self-esteem & reduces family stress.
12 Comments
Post a CommentGood things to keep in mind.
Great article. My five-year-old granddaughter loves to help me in the kitchen. It's a lot easier, and less messy, when I do it myself, but how else will she learn?
Great article Angela!
excellent thoughts, my two year old likes to help unload the dishwasher, i remove the knifes first and she takes all the other silverware, sorts it and puts it away. she also sorts the clothing. don't forget with little ones to make it a game, i have a little ways to go before I get to try this tricks. but be careful what you wish for-- my teenager is far too independent in all the wrong ways :-D
hehehehe such sarcastic facial manifestation we weave? getting past that concept. Splendid read.
Excellent article; I wish I had read it when my kids were younger!
The voice of experience, love it!
Great article! It really is important that we're raising our kids to be self-sufficient. There are already too many adults out there who seemed to have never learned these skills. :)
I've really started to up the expectations for my little ones, starting with personal stuff, like shoes, coat, backpack. Even my two year old knows he has to put his own shoes in the shoe basket. Never too early!
Lisa, you are so welcome! It is a daily learning experience for me too and each of my children are motivated differently so it is a challenging but very rewarding process. Thank you too 3lilangels for all of your encouraging comments. I really appreciate my reading family here.