- summeralameel
Tips to Inspire Independence in Your Child
Updated: Apr 12, 2021
Children are born with a lot of uncertainty. They just don't know about the world, people, and circumstances in their everyday lives. When they are infants, they rely on their parents for everything, from food and clothing to a home and teaching them about the world around them. As they grow, they become more independent. While they still rely on their parents and other influencers in their life to guide them, protect them, and teach them the skills they will need to be able to navigate life successfully, they will no longer have an hesitation about accomplishing tasks on their own.
Inland Respite offers companion care for developmentally disabled children and adults throughout Southern California. Our in-home caregivers are passionate about helping you when you need a break. We come to your home and help with many non-medical services, such as companion care, helping with daily living needs and tasks, as well as helping ensure a safe environment for your child. You can help choose an in-home caretaker that suits your family and your needs. Below, we'll offer up some helpful tips on how to inspire independence in your child. Contact us to get started today!
TIPS TO INSPIRE INDEPENDENCE IN YOUR CHILD
Expand Your Child's Horizons
By encouraging your child to try new things, you'll be exposing them to not only activities that they could enjoy, but you will be helping to boost their self-confidence as well. When you are good at something, it feels good to accomplish goals. Furthermore, by trying new things, you'll be setting your child up for future success all throughout life. They will have the confidence to pursue a new career, a new relationship, or just develop a general risk-taking attitude with life. There is so much to explore, such as travel, that children need to have the independence to do so in order to live their best life possible.
Encourage Your Child's Talents
It's very affirming inwardly when you can do something very well and bless others with that talent. We love to watch professional sports because the players are all insanely good and talented at what they do and we enjoy watching them play the game at that level. It's what affirms our uniqueness as well. When your child develops an interest in something, be it dinosaurs, insects, reading books, or playing sports, encourage it. They will get better, succeed, and have confidence moving forward in life to do more things on their own.
Support Your Child in Everything They Do
Never underestimate how powerful your faith in them is. After all, when your child is young, you are their whole world. In their minds, you can do no wrong, and you can do everything easily. When you constantly encourage your child, telling them that you know they can do something, you can instill your self-confidence in them and the will for them to be able to do things on their own. When they believe you, then your child believes in themselves. As children grow, life becomes harder with more responsibilities and burdens they must carry. They will always carry your words inside even when they are not with you anymore.
Teach Your Child How to Handle Failure
We all fail; it's just a part of life. The key though is how you react to failure. Will you learn from failure or will you wallow in self-pity and thereby not grow? You can model how to react and learn from failure in your daily life that your child can see. Be open about failure so that your child can see that failure is normal, so that they don't internalize it and believe it is just something that happens to them. A great way to do this is in sports. If your child's team loses, congratulate the other team for winning. It goes against human nature, which is why this is important to instill early. Then, your child can have the attitude of "we'll win next time." This is the attitude they will need in life and one that will help them make decisions on their own.
Celebrate Achievements
When your child with developmental disabilities accomplishes a goal — even a small goal — it's something to celebrate. Not only does this show your child that you are proud of them (something they need to know deep inside), but it encourages your child to achieve more of their goals on their own just to satisfy you if nothing else. With the achievement of goals, their self-doubt about accomplishing them vanishes, and they are able to move forward doing more activities on their own. Plus, they will have the added bonus of adding life skills to their repertoire that will only help them down the road when they do live on their own.
CHOOSE INLAND RESPITE FOR ALL YOUR IN-HOME CAREGIVER NEEDS
Independence is when your child feels secure enough to be able to do things on their own, as well as are able to care for themselves. We see this as children have the confidence to take risks and as they begin to realize they can do things for themselves. Parents need to be able to let go and give their child the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them so independence is then built over time.
Inland Respite offers the best in-home caregivers for parents, grandparents, and other caregivers of developmentally disabled children and adults. We thoroughly vet our caregivers so that you can rest assured that while you are out recharging, your child is in the best of hands. We encourage you as caretakers to not feel guilty about taking a bit of time for yourselves. It is good for your child or adult to have interaction with others. If you are interested in companion care services in Southern California, reach out to us today!