As parents, you may hope that your children can be independent. It is because if they are independent, they will not always rely on their parents or people around them. However, to train children to be independent is not easy.
To make your children independent, they must be trained from childhood. When you find that your children can do the simple things by themselves, you may be proud and of course this character will be great for them when they are adults.
Smart Tips for Training Children to be Independent
If you want to train children to be independent, you are able to do that by starting from the simple things that they usually do. However, the way to train them must be adjusted with their age, development, and ability. Here are several ways that you can do to train your children to be independent.
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1. Start it with giving small tasks
You are able to train your children to be independent by starting to give them small tasks such as involving them to do your homework. You are able to give them light tasks such as sleeping alone, making their bed, cleaning their toys, folding clothes, sweeping, or taking care of their younger sister or brother.
These small activities will teach them to be responsible, increase their self-confidence, and shape their independence character.
2. Let the children make their own choice
An independent child is a child who does not rely on others much, especially on the things that they can solve by themselves. So, it is important for you to accustom your children to make their own choice and not to force your wishes on them too much.
It is better if you give suggestions about the decision that they will make in an educational way. Give them explanations from the positive side and negative side if they do something.
If the choice made by the children is wrong, you are able to give an explanation which is easy to understand so that they can make a good choice in the future.
3. Don’t Always Help
The older the children, they will be interested in doing many things such as tying shoelaces, buttoning clothes, taking their food or learning to cook. These activities can be used by you to train them to be more independent.
When they face difficulties, it is better for you not to help them directly. You have to let them try by themselves first and give them support so that they do not give up easily. You have to support them until they are able to do the activities by themselves and more independent to do that in the future.
4. Provide a child-friendly environment
When your little one is learning to be an independent child, you have to make sure that the environment is safe and friendly for the child. For example, when the child is learning to take a bath by himself or herself, you have to make sure that the floor in the bathroom is clean and not slippery.
Besides, when your child is learning to wash the dishes or cook, give them plastic plates and glasses or choose the cooking activities that are not too risky, such as choosing and cleaning vegetables or fruits.
5. Appreciate their effort
When your children do something good and can make them independent little by little, you have to give them praise.
By giving praise, it can boost their spirits to move forward and want to improve their independence.
Training your children to be independent is not an instant thing. It takes time for your children to understand and apply it. The important thing that you have to do as parents is that you have to be a good example so that your children can know how to behave.
That’s all the explanation about training children to be independent where the source of this writing is from a child psychologist. If you want to train your child to be independent and you are looking for the suitable method with your child’s character, you are able to consult a psychologist.
