Disclosure – this is a collaborative post.
Screen time is addictive, be it on phones, laptops, or the TV. It glues you to whatever is going on in the other end to a point you can’t tell what time it is. For children, teenagers, and anyone below adulthood, self-control against screen time can be challenging because they’re incapable of making sound decisions.
Hence, as a parent, you need to set time boundaries so your child can engage other parts of their lives. While screen time is a great way to unwind, spending too much on it can only make your kids dependent.
Your kid needs guidance and structure to build their cognitive, practical, and behavioral skills. Try encouraging activities that require life skills to accomplish, such as solving a puzzle or organizing their rooms.
Your kids will get to experience firsthand how difficult tasks are and will start to appreciate what you do for them. One significant way to impart life skills is through sports. Sports have proven physical and cognitive benefits that will boost a self-reliance attitude.
An excellent sport to consider is gymnastics. The sport demands discipline, ethics, and focuses on molding your kid to be his/her best version. Witness this by enrolling your child in children’s gymnastics classes today.
There are other ways to motivate your child to be self-sufficient that require both your presence and absence. You don’t always have to be there for your child to learn to be self-reliant.
Sometimes absence is necessary. For example, your child can only know how to make the bed if given the space. Setting building blocks for your child is not an overnight accomplishment, but it will certainly help if you start minimizing screentime periodically.
Extra Curriculum Activities
Life is more than books, exams, and screens, so you need to encourage your kid to engage in out-of-school activities. Sports and clubs are the most common extracurricular activities proven valuable in your child’s interpersonal skills and growth.
Socializing with kids from different backgrounds helps your kid learn, understand and appreciate various cultures. For this reason, your kid’s socializing skills will drastically improve, and they will make friends easily.
Additionally, clubs allow kids to learn how to relate with others, solve problems, communicate, and respect others. All of which better equip your kid to be constructive with their time.
Exploration
By nature, kids are curious and fearless, and by limiting them from getting out of their comfort zone, you’re instilling fear and promoting laziness. Letting your kid handle tasks alone helps them figure things out for themselves and understand why certain things function as they do.
Encouraging exploration such as team camping or walking to the nearby library alone may be uncomfortable for you but is necessary to improve your kid’s sense of security.
Kids need to experience to feel, understand and discern for themselves. This will stimulate mental capabilities at a younger age and advocate for responsibility.
Another way to encourage exploration is by identifying what makes your kid fearful and doubtful. Then, please give them a different perspective that will minimize this fear and allow them to face their fears.
Offering positive views will foster positive attitudes, coping abilities, and bravery to do things independently. Don’t let exploration be a security concern. Let your kid start with simple ones until you’re comfortable and they become of age to take on harder ones.
Responsibility
Learning responsibility takes place at a young age. Showing your kids that you can do everything for them promotes laziness and a sense of entitlement. Therefore, you should create a structure that fosters responsibilities and accountability.
Disclosure – this is a collaborative post.
