SourceIf you’re a parent, then you’ll have a lot on your mind when it comes to raising your children. You’ll need to make sure that they’re well-fed, happy, healthy, have a bright future, and so on and so forth. Why parenting is not considered to be a full time job, we do not know! When you’re raising your kids, you’ll be thinking about various qualities that you want to instil in them. One of the best, in our view, is independence. If you’re an independent child, then you’ll be more likely to be an independent adult. As simple as that!
The question is, how can you make it so that your kids are independent? In this blog, we’re going to run through some useful tips that’ll push you in the right direction.
Exploring and Play
You can’t expect your child to become independent if you’re continually walking them through everything that they’re doing. If they’re going to have an inch of self-reliance, then they need to experience the world on their own. Thankfully, there’s an easy way to do this — let them explore and play in an unguided way. You might have your own view about how kids should play with, say, a toy set, but it’s probably not up there with your child’s imagination. Let them see how to do things on their own.
Discovering On Their Own
Where does independence come from? And what does it look like? We’ll say that it comes from external sources, initially. And as for what it looks like, we’ll say — being able to draw our own opinions and thoughts without needing other people. If your child is going to have that, then they’ll need to have ways to experience the world without you. One of the best ways they can do this, especially in the early days, is through reading. Indeed, much of the importance of reading fluency for children rests in the ability to give the child the freedom to read on their own. Once they have it, they won’t rely on you for all their entertainment: they can do it on their own. You might like reading to your little ones, but they’ll get more from the experience if they’re doing it by themselves.
Let Them Help Themselves
Your child is your baby, so it’s normal to fall into the habit of wanting to do everything for them. Any time there’s anything that needs to be done, you’ll be there to do it for them. However, it’s important to remember that you won’t be there forever! The earlier it is that your kids begin helping themselves, the better. Of course, we’re not suggesting that you throw them in the deep end. There’ll obviously be many things that they can’t do themselves. But many things, they will.
Eventually, they’ll get into the mindset of trying to handle things themselves, rather than just simply looking at someone else. The general rule that you can follow is that you shouldn’t do anything for your kids that they can do for themselves. You’ll quickly see that there’s a lot more than you thought!
Alone Time
You won’t be able to give your child too much alone time. You do need to look after them, after all. But you can give them a sense of being alone, even if they’re not really. For instance, could you put them in the yard while you’re watching from just inside your property? This will give them a chance to explore the world without the safety net (or so they think) of their parents watching over them. They’ll soon realize that the world isn’t as dangerous as they feared it was — and that they’re more than capable of navigating it on their own.
Making Decisions
An independent mind needs to know how to make decisions. They won’t be relying on someone else to make the decision for them! So why not ensure that your child is used to doing this by having them make decisions? Of course, you’re the only one who has to live with these decisions, so you can’t make it an open-ended question. But you can make it close-ended. For instance, you could ask them to choose between two different options for dinner. This will get them used to thinking about different outcomes and how they can influence the decision, a key ingredient for an independent mind!
Handling Money
A person who’s in control of their own money will become independent. That’s why so many people grow into independence after they stop being supported by their parents. Of course, you’ll be many years away from that. But you can get the ball rolling with your children by handing them an allowance. It doesn’t have to be much — just enough so that they need to manage it.
Sharing Their Opinion
Finally, let’s think about opinions. An independent person has their own thoughts and beliefs. But if a person has never been taught to think in these terms, then they might not have all that much to say. From an early age, it’s a good idea to get your child to think about what their opinion is—and then having the courage to say it out loud. If they begin this early, then it’ll just be the way that they think when they’re older. And when that time rolls around, they’ll have a skill that many other people wish they had.
Conclusion
We’re not going to say that independence is the most important thing that you can teach your kids. There are definitely some things that are higher on the agenda. However, it does have a lot of value. We live in a world, after all, that places fairly great importance on independence — it is considered an attractive quality. While some people are just born with an independent streak, for others, it’s something that’s nurtured and developed. If you can get started with your child when they’re still young, then you’ll see that they grow up to be an independent person.
