Do you remember when you monitored your infants’ routine and inculcated a discipline? Did you notice how the little one got used to the timeline? This is how the infant adapts to time- sequence and it got wired in their brain.
Often as the child enters the preteen years, children want to wean off from timelines and there stems a conflict in parenting and rearing. This is also a phase where children are learning to make their own planning and time table. It is a choice they want to make and they wish to feel empowered. For a parent, this is an overwhelming phase and it is not easy to ‘Let go’.
You may find a child organized in a few areas and not in others. Challenging them or scolding them for a few goof-ups will not work. In fact, it will demotivate them to an extent that they may give up on the chores they were good at. This is a delicate phase and a prelude to the teen years and young adulthood.
Ten smooth sailing tips to help your child plan and respect time.
1. Give them a freehand to make a timeline. Yes, in writing.
2. Agree to a few, let them learn as they try out. It is okay if they do not succeed.
3. For most kids it may sound exciting but when they are not able to meet their targets, they feel dejected. It is of utmost importance to be with your child and accept their failings as a guide and mentor.
4. Avoid dictating a time table for them though this is a short cut method and saves time. Let them chalk up in a neat paper and show it to you.
5. A gentle tweaking of their time and making allowances on a holiday or week day works well.
6. Encourage them when they are moody.
7. Explain them to stave off the mobile and social network. Take a walk or play with them instead.
8. Praise and reward them for all accomplishments
9. Explain to them that the most successful people manage their time well. Explaining that Time is money is not good idiom for kids. Time is IMPORTANT is a wonderful way to say it.
10.Love them for what they ARE.
Author : Kamakshi Gupte – Counselling Psychologist
www.thecoolparentingguide.com