Archive for March 2010
How to Encourage Independence and still get out of the house on time
Jennifer:
Gianna is currently in the stage where she wants to do EVERYTHING by herself. Like most kids, she doesn’t move the quickest sometimes. In order to encourage her to keep moving, we give her choices like, “Do you want to put on your pink shoes or your white shoes? Do you want to go to the bathroom first or brush your teeth first?” Giving her the ability to make those decisions help her to keep moving and get the task done. She now knows that if she doesn’t make the choice, we will do it for her and she doesn’t like that very much. It takes a lot of encouragement and praise, but the more we offer her choices, the more apt she is to take responsibility.
Amy:
Independence is something we have no shortage of around our house these days. As was true with our oldest son, the mandated “me do” did not start until well into the 2′s ~ long enough to think we just might sneak through without it. I know, naive thinking! Jake loves his independence in picking out his clothes, some of the foods he eats and his refusal of doing things he deems unlikable. We find it easier to manage the times we have to do for him with allowing freedom in other areas. It has forced me to live with cartoon character clothing but it has been a small price to pay for the trade off in other areas. Jake loves to go places. When we announce it is time to leave we usually do so about 5 minutes before we are walking out the door to allow everyone a little transition time. Jake will be standing on the front porch shoes and coat on while we as parents try to get him back in the house while his brother is slow to get going. However once we get to the car, he wants to pick the door he goes in, who will buckle his car seat, who can sit next to him and what door he will exit – all at a much slower pace than I prefer. Then I watch him carefully lock his door the second he gets in or out of the car and it takes away the anxiety that the few extra seconds is costing me. It also allows me a few bonus points when I really have to pick a battle and win it ~ like eating cookies for breakfast…
