Helping Your Child Become More Independent

(Collaborative Post)

Independence is something that your child will become more attuned to as they develop. In their teens, children will be required to do a lot more things for themselves, as will be a true test of their skills. In this guide from this private school in Somerset we’ll take a look at the ways you can help your child with their independence and level of responsibilities.

Slowly incorporate more responsibilities to your child’s days

You can easily do this from a young age, with a number of low demand tasks to get them used to more demanding tasks. For example, take your child on your grocery shopping and ask them to pick some of the items up from the list, see if they pick up the right items and continue practicing. When they’re a bit older they can handle more chores in the home, cleaning responsibilities and encourage them to offer help at home.

Put more trust in your child

Over time you can give your child more responsibilities, but show your child that they can be trusted with your work and make it known that you trust them. Talk to them often and be honest in front of them to build that level of trust between you and your child. It’s a good practice to get into that can give your child a lot more motivation and confidence to do their own things.

Let your child choose the things they want to do

A part of giving a child responsibility is by making them own their decisions. There’s a benefit to this in that your child will be gearing themselves up to know what they can and can’t do, and they’re testing the waters for themselves to see what they’re more capable of handling. For example, letting your child go on a bus journey on their own is a good test of your child’s independence, but it might take a few attempts to get a child completely used to the journey.

Mummy Snowy Owl

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