Teaching Your Children to be Independent is Important

One of the most empowering things women do for our children is to teach them to be independent and to be able to make decisions and take actions on their own. This independence will raise their self-esteem and enable them to handle any situation confidently.

Here are eight effective and fun ways to help your child become more independent.

1. Enlist your child’s help. Tell them that you have observed that there are things they can do on their own that you have been doing for them. Then ask for their support in allowing you to let them carry out those activities. This makes it seem like they are helping you change, not the other way around. It also fosters cooperation.
2. Look for occasions to create more independence. Make a list of things you believe your child could do independently. Then have the child select which ones they feel they would like to do. This empowers them to make decisions independently and try to do more things without your help.
3. Do not try to hand over all the responsibilities at once. This will only create overwhelm for your child. Choose a few things at a time. Leave the rest until after the first few things have been implemented.
4. Please plan for things to take more time than they usually do. Kids typically do not share the same urgency as adults do, so give them the time they need to get things done on their own - without intruding. This lets them feel greater independence and will enable you not to feel rushed and do something for your child out of time constraints.
5. If things get too serious, your child will begin resisting this change, so make things fun. Create fun challenges that set your child up for success from the very beginning. Inject a sense of fun into making your child more independent, and it will not be a struggle.

6. Do not expect perfection. Your goal is to build more independence, not to get things done perfectly or as well as you would do them. The concept is to let your child make some mistakes with no judgment. That shows that mistakes are part of life, not something to be ashamed of when they occur.
7. Always give them praise for a job well done, even if not done correctly or how you would do things. A little credit will go a long way towards building your child’s self-esteem and confidence, which will help them with their independence.
8. Be aware of when things are not optimal with your child. Are they tired or sick? Please choose a time to implement change that they will be receptive to transition. The time to bring in new responsibilities is when things are already smooth sailing.