Develop Responsibility In Children By Letting Them Make Choices
Responsibility is a quality that can't be directly taught to children, yet is vital at school, in relationships, in the workplace and in other aspects of life. Parents can encourage this quality in their children by giving them responsibilities in the home and allowing them to make their own choices about reasonable issues.
Giving children chores or other commitments at home offers them opportunities to succeed and fail in a safe space. Actions usually have much greater consequences at school or a job than at home, so it's helpful if they've practiced responsibility at home first. Participation in the community, school clubs and activities also builds responsibility.
When children make choices, hold them accountable. This helps them learn problem solving and how to handle success and failure. Though it may be difficult to see children fail, they have to be allowed to experience the consequences of their decisions and actions. Too much lenience only teaches children that someone else will fix their errors and doesn't develop responsibility. Too much control or stringency makes decision-making difficult for children and can encourage them to rebel.
Set fair boundaries and stick to them. Children should experience fair consequences for misbehavior so they learn from their mistakes.
SOURCE: Kathy Bosch, Ph.D., family life specialist
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