We all have day-to-day responsibilities that we must accomplish. Some of our responsibilities we may enjoy, such as cooking a nice meal, while others might be more laborious, such as showing up for work at 7 am. However, learning to handle responsibility is an important part of being a functional adult. Help your young child start to develop skills around responsibility from a young age.
By teaching responsibility in a fun and positive way, you can help your child develop a sense of pride in their work and you can aid them in learning how to handle more and more responsibility as they age. Here at Yellow Brick Road, we provide quality child care in Plymouth, geared toward healthy childhood development. Check out this list of fun ways you can help teach your child responsibility, even at a young age.
Create A Chart
One of the best ways to help your child track responsibility and remember what tasks they should be doing each day is by creating a simple chart for them. This chart should have their different responsibilities listed on it with some pictures alongside those tasks for young ones who can’t read yet.
Leave columns for each day of the week with room for stickers to signify an accomplished task. This chart will help your child start to understand the organization of responsibility. It is very difficult for a young child to remember a list of tasks but a chart can help them learn how to use other resources to aid their memory.
Not only can you add spaces for stickers to signify an accomplished task, you can also create a reward system. If they reach 20 stickers in one week, they get to pick out a treat from a bucket of candy or a small toy from the store. Rewards can help make responsibility a positive experience.
Start Small
For young children, the tasks they are responsible for daily will need to be small and manageable. Think about their attention span when you are helping them pick out tasks around the house and avoid overwhelming responsibilities that will create a negative experience.
For example, instead of requiring that they clean up their entire room every single day, try to break the task down for them. Maybe on Mondays, they have to clean up any books in their room that are lying out. Tuesdays they can focus on putting dirty clothes in the hamper. Wednesdays their responsibility might be to clean up toys.
As they handle small responsibilities more consistently, you can add to those tasks and make them larger. Eventually, they will be completely capable of cleaning their whole room each day without it being an overwhelming task. As with anything in life, baby steps are the key to success.
Encourage Them To Be Proactive
Instead of being the sole determinant of what responsibilities your child takes on, encourage them to be proactive in finding responsibility. Ask them each month if there is a task around the house they want to add to their chart. By involving them in the process of assigning tasks, you will teach them how to be proactive in taking on responsibility.
Proactiveness is an extremely helpful skill set for your child to have as they enter school and one day the workforce. By helping them learn how to look for areas they can take on responsibility, you will equip them to feel a greater sense of pride in their work. For example, maybe they will volunteer to add feeding the dog to their list. While you might not be able to rely 100 percent on your preschooler for feeding the family pet, add it to their list and help them out with this important task. Never discourage them from any responsibility they are offering to help with.
Add In Some Fun
Help make the responsibility chart a little more enjoyable by adding some just-for-fun tasks. You might add something like “have a dance party with mom” on Wednesdays or “play a game with dad” on Fridays. By adding something fun on their chart, you will help reinforce that not all responsibilities are difficult. Some of the things we are required to do in life are actually quite enjoyable.
When you are looking for child care in Plymouth, be sure you choose a place that will encourage healthy development and important skills, such as learning responsibility. Come talk to our team at Yellow Brick Road about our outstanding child care programs today.