Tips To Teach Responsibility
Teaching a child to be responsible can be quite the feat at times. As a parent, are we constantly trying to ‘fix’ things for our child? Are we the ones who are cleaning up their rooms or clearing the table after breakfast, lunch and dinner? Are we the ones who seem to jump in on a project that is due at school? As a parent, I will be honest and answer ‘yes’ to all of these! It just seems so much easier to go in and clean our child’s room and put things where they belong, right? Now, stop to think about this because we are not teaching them anything by doing this. We are taking away from them the opportunity to learn how to clean their space, how to keep it organized and how to appreciate the outcome. I never thought of it like this while raising our three adult children. Never! Life was busy, with school, work, scouts, sports and such. So, it was easier for me to just do things for them. How about after meals, wouldn’t it be nice if your child put their dirty dishes in the sink, or took out the trash when it was full, or pick up after the mess they made? Yes, the answer is again, yes.
Our character Responsible Rabbit has a few tips to share to help teach your children to be responsible. After all, being a responsible child leads to being a responsible adult and understanding that there are consequences of the choices we make. As a parent, we should allow our child to make a mistake, to learn and grow from them and to learn how to resolve conflicts and issues in a responsible manner
For an example, if their homework isn’t completed and their grades are slacking, do we step in to do the homework? Or, when our children aren’t prepared for game day, or an activity, or a lesson because they didn’t do the work, do we step in and do it for them? When our children are on a team sport, they practice so they can become better at the game. I’d like to think that practice is something that is scheduled in after chores are complete, and homework is finished? Teaching our children how to utilize their time is equally important so that the daily chores of life get completed and nobody is blaming anyone else because things did not get accomplished. Teaching our children to make good choices is important. It’s important that they understand the consequences when things don’t get done, and, it’s equally important that they understand the consequences when things do get done. Let’s try to steer them in the right direction of understanding, seeing and feeling the good consequences and encourage them in their tasks.
Tips From Responsible Rabbit to Help Teach and Reinforce Responsibility In Our Children:
Be encouraging when your child wants to slack, the ol’ “I know you can do this” helps, or, ‘here, let me help you’ showing them the importance of the task
Allow your child to fail, be there for them and work on a solution, learn from the lesson
I don’t mean to set your child up for failure, I mean that we all fail, that we’re not close to perfect, but we can always try to fix the error and own up to the mistake
Make a chore chart for what is expected in your home or classroom from your child
Be sure to keep chores age appropriate, don’t expect your three year old to take out the trash
Keep things visual to remind them of the things that need to be accomplished, in the day, the week, etc. giving them a heads up so they can work on their timing of things
By keeping things eye level for your child is a visual reminder, charts, posters, etc. something to encourage them and keep them on the right track
Praise your children for the good choices that they make which will encourage them to try and make good choices, not just for you, but for them, let them feel the pride of a good choice that was made and embrace the excitement they will have
Be sure that you have resources for your child to complete the tasks to be done that they are responsible for
a laundry basket for dirty clothes, supplies to do homework, baskets, bins or shelving for their possessions in their room or the toy room, a pooper scooper for picking up after the family dog
When we can keep our child engaged in activities, they are learning to not only help around the house, they are learning to be responsible. After all, they are a part of the family and it takes team work to make things run smoothly, if there is such a thing! Life is busy, I get it, but, by teaching our children to be responsible at an early age will help them to become a responsible youth, a responsible adult and a responsible person of the community. We’re all in this together! Let’s keep learning and growing and making a difference in the life of a child.
Characters of Character has books available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. We have put a Youtube channel together with activities and lessons to help teach and reinforce the nine core values we teach to provide a firm foundation for children to establish strong civic values. And, as always, please, be a role model for your children, they are listening to what you say, they are watching what you do and they most likely want to be just like you when they grow up. Your character matters.
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“TELL me and I forget, TEACH me and I remember, INVOLVE me and I learn”