Teaching Kids Responsibility in School and at Home

responsibilityChildren’s brains are like a sponge that absorb everything that they see, hear, feel and experience.

Ever have problems with kids misplacing your lipstick or a pair of your socks because they played with them?

Well you see, the things adults do is a model which kids easily follow.

Here are some suggestions:

Scaffolding Theory For Children

This is a theory formulated by Lev Vygotsky wherein adults assist children in doing certain tasks. Say for example opening a bottle with a twistable cap. Instead of opening it yourself, you can twist it a bit enough for the child to have a chance to completely twist it open. Another example is buttoning up their shirt. You do ‘scaffolding’ by buttoning two to three buttons and letting them finish the rest of the buttons.

Modeling Teaching Technique

Take dressing themselves for example. As an adult, you can model how to put on clothes; which hole the head goes in then which hole to put the arms in next.

Practice

During playtime you can provide different materials such as cups, jars, containers to be filled with different things, beads, marbles, shells wherein children could pour and transfer the objects from one container to the another. Once kids gain control through such practice, you can now change those objects with water, juice, liquids in different colors, etc.With this, children develop fine motor skills and will be able to be responsible enough to pour their own juice, milk, and what not.Another way of practicing simple tasks are from books that can be bought wherein kids can practice lacing, snapping velcro, hooking, buttoning.

Or anything that kids can try out and manipulate.Start them helping out at home too; say when you are washing your car, or washing the dishes (have them wash plastic first) or bathing the dog. Giving appropriate and meaningful activities and opportunities with explanation, will make them responsible enough to understand why they have to look after their toys, and where they should put them away.

Allowing children to develop in this way reduces your need to do everything for them and helps them become a happier more indepedent child. It also teaches kids responsibility for themselves and their own actions.

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