Despite the fact that making mistakes is human, many people often find it difficult to take the blame for their misdeeds and failures in a bid to try to avoid being disapproved of by others, or for fear of the negative consequences associated with their actions. Being quick to fault others for appears to be even more natural for young children. For instance, a child is often quick to blame other pupils or even the teacher for getting a bad mark in a class even if he knows that he didn’t study much before the test!
You, as a parent, have the obligation to teach your little ones to take responsibility for their actions, both bad and good, from an early age. So, how do you do this?
1) Be a Good Example to Your Little Ones
By taking your own parental, familial and societal responsibilities and obligations seriously, you will be setting a good example for your child. This can start with simple things like keeping promises and being on time. It is easier for young children to adopt the things they see you doing than what you are saying alone. Besides, why would you ask them to be responsible if you don’t believe in being and doing the same?
2) Help them see the Bigger Picture
As you instill responsibility tips into your children’s daily lives, help them understand that they are not doing this to make you happy or impress others. Show them how their being responsible or not can affect them and other people. You need to help them understand how it shapes their character and make them a more independent and self-reliant individual for the benefit of their lives both as kids and later as adults.
3) Allow them to Make Some Decisions
You need to foster independence in your children by letting them make some decisions about themselves and their lives. For example, allow them to choose simple aspects of their lives like the color theme of their bedrooms, what toys they would like to have, the children park they would love to go out to over the weekend, etc. This also includes teaching your children about finances. Make sure they understand how valuable money is and that frugal living is a praiseworthy endeavor. One of the ways you can save is to use coupons and promo codes, which can be easily found on such websites as Coupons.com or Discountrue.
4) Teach Your Children the Basic Rules
Being responsible for bigger things starts with a sense of responsibility for the simple ones. Teach your kids the importance of simple rules like always maintaining their room in order, doing their school work at the right time, organizing their tasks according to priority, setting timetables and deadlines for what they plan to achieve.
5) Assign them Tasks to Perform
There are so many simple tasks and chores that you can assign to your kids to help them create a sense of responsibility at home: brushing their teeth and shoes, dressing themselves, making their bed after waking up. This way, they will be more at ease doing things for their good and that of other people even when they grow older.
6) Encourage them to be Honest
Be gentle with your kids when handling their mistakes so that they can feel comfortable owning up to their misdeeds and telling the truth when asked. Always try to remain calm and keep your cool even when expressing your disappointment or dissatisfaction with their poor behavior. Remind them that to err is okay but they need to try not to repeat the mistakes.
7) Monitor their Progress
In order to help your responsibility lessons stick in your kids’ minds, consider turning them into a challenge that can keep them on their toes always. For instance, start your kid’s week with ten points and deduct one every time he or she tries to blame other people or makes an excuse for not doing homework on time. Similarly, reward your child if he or she performs better than expected. This way, your children will learn to enjoy being a responsible person without feeling pushed around.
