In addition to their care and upbringing, parents are responsible for educating our children in values and skills that will serve them tomorrow to have a full and satisfying adult life. One of the most important values that we must teach them is responsibility, as it will teach them to take charge of certain things, as well as to understand that their actions have positive or negative consequences.
How can we teach them about responsibility? We share you seven tricks that work to help your child be more responsible.
Start assigning small tasks at home
One way to start teaching them about responsibility from an early age is to making them participants in the activities at home, assigning them small tasks according to their age. In Babies and more, we made a board inspired by Montessori, so that you have a guide of the activities that your children can do at home according to their age.
Make homework fun
Children love to be taken into account and many of them enjoy helping at home, as it helps them develop their autonomy by seeing that they are capable of doing certain things on their own. But if you see that your child has a hard time doing things, either because of laziness or because he doesn't find it interesting, you can find how to motivate him to see these activities as something funWell, it helps them a lot to learn through the game.
If it comes to tidying up your room, for example, you can invent a game, such as challenging each other to see who finishes ordering toys of different types or categories first. Do it in a way that is fun for him, even you can play some music for him to see that also completing tasks can be fun.
In Babies and more, let them be autonomous: the Montessori-inspired table to find out what tasks they can do at each ageFind your strengths so you feel motivated
We probably all have some activity that we don't like to do and although we end up doing it, we usually turn it over and leave it for later. In the case of children, a trick to be able to teach them about responsibility, is looking for their strengths and tastes, so that they feel more motivated.
For example, if your child likes to accommodate and organize things, he may be in charge of setting the table before lunch or dinner, or replacing pillows and cushions on the bed or sofa. If what you like is to play with water, you can support yourself by washing dishes and glasses after eating (plastic if it is still small). The idea is find which activities are best, so that by supporting us with them, I can begin to understand and put responsibility into practice.
Teach him with everyday examples
The best way to teach a child something and learn it more effectively will always be by example. Taking this as a basis, you can do several things. One of them is set the example yourself: fulfilling your activities and sharing with him what your responsibilities are and explaining the importance of fulfilling them.
Take advantage of ordinary and real day-to-day situations, to take advantage of them as a way of teaching you to be responsible. If one day they forget to do something or leave it later, you can also take advantage of it in a positive way, to teach him that doing things or not has its consequences.
In Babies and more How to teach our children that punishment doesn't matter, but the consequences of their actionsGive him a special project
Children like to know how to take it into account, so think a task or project that is especially for them, will further motivate them to develop their role as responsible for it. An example of this can be the care of a small plant, to which you have to put water and care, showing what happens if it is responsible (that the plant continues to grow) or if it is not (wilt).
Look for educational supports or reinforcements
Today we can rely on certain resources as stories to teach our children about values. Likewise, there are children's programs like Daniel Tigre, which have positive and didactic messages, in which their favorite characters put into practice and explain various values, such as responsibility and the consequences of not complying or doing things.
In Babies and more Do not educate your children to obey you, educate them to make good decisions Recognize when you have responsible behaviors or attitudes
Another way to help your child put responsibility into practice is to recognize when he fulfills the activities or tasks that correspond to him, thanking your actions and highlighting how important it is to be responsible for your part, using positive reinforcements as phrases of thanks and congratulations for having done things.
Avoid using bribes (such as promising a prize in exchange for doing something or threatening to deny it if you do not comply), because it is not about our children doing things to get a reward, but to that understand the importance of fulfilling their responsibilities.
Similarly, an important part of teaching them about responsibility is to allow them to fail and make mistakes. If you see that you cannot do things or forget to do them, it is an excellent opportunity for two lessons: the first, show you the consequences of not being responsible, and the second, give you the opportunity to think about a solution and learn from your mistakes.
The value of responsibility is one that will help you throughout your life and leave you with hundreds of positive lessons and lessons. With these tricks, you can help your child to be more responsible from an early age.
