Helping Your Child Become More Independent

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As they get older, your child will need to learn how to do things for themselves. Things like how to put on their shoes, get dressed and tidy up. By teaching them early on, you can help them in the event that you’re not there and build their confidence as they develop new skills. We have teamed up with a private school in Sevenoaks to share some tips for helping your child become independent.

Be Patient

Things take time to learn and habits can take a while to form. It’s important that your patient with your child during the process as it will stop them feeling pressured and overwhelmed. If it’s putting on their shoes that they’re learning to do, ensure to allocate enough time for them to do so before going outside as this will prevent them from feeling rushed.

Share Responsibility

Taking on a new task can be overwhelming for children, especially as they’ve had someone else do it for so long. You can split the load to make the process easier on them and less stressful. That might be something that you get them to do by getting them to dress half of themselves while you dress the other

Routine

Routine is important to maintain as it helps children to feel safe and instils a sense of normality. Disruption to this routine can create stress which is why it’s important to be mindful of the time that you choose to phase in such changes. This should ideally be at a time where there is little else happening.

Opportunity

Without the opportunity to, your child will not be able to practice being independent. So whether it’s a two minute job that you can easily do, be patient and let your child have a go so that they can learn.

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