How can parents raise a responsible child?
Raising a responsible child is a dream of every parent, but teaching a child to cultivate responsible behavior is not an easy task and requires right support.
Asking children to be responsible or giving them challenges is not enough, before expecting any responsible behavior parents themselves need to be a role model. Children adopt behavior from their parents, which is why what a parent teaches or shows a child is what he will learn.
Responsibility is a heavy word and is not limited to acting right or taking care of chores given. Responsibility towards relationships, social behavior, money, academic performance, their actions and their siblings is what a child needs to learn and adopt, which is why parents need to provide right support, give effective feedback, should communicate more and more as well as should show different ways a child can learn to be responsible.
Best way to raise a responsible child is to star with smaller and lesser responsibility. Mothers can ask their young girl to help them in chores like washing of vegetable and fruits when they are preparing a meal or they can also ask them to sit next to you and pass the cutleries to help in kitchen., whereas fathers can ask their young boy to pass him the tools in garage while working his car or ask him to pass the paint brush and color when painting the fence. Often, such small tasks inculcate the habit of helping in the child and as he grows up, he tends to take it as his responsibility to help others.
Encouragement is a right way to help a kid feel his responsibility, which is why it is better to say ‘that is good work, you must keep it up’. Never mix rewarding with responsibility, as rewarding the child every time he does something nice would make him ignore the fact that he needs to do something because it’s his responsibility, not because he will get rewards.
Let your elder child know that the sibling is his responsibility and that he needs to take care of them when you are not around. Leaving children in charge of their siblings makes them responsible towards relationships and their brothers and sisters; this also cuts down the occurrence of sibling rivalry.
When teaching children responsible behavior, also make sure that they are aware of consequences. Such as, let them know that if they fail to take care of their belongings they might have to wait for another birthday to get that toy or they might have to work hard or save their pocket money to buy that cap. Also, let them know that if they spend their pocket money without thinking they might have it wait for whole month to get money, as you won’t just give them any advance.
Communicate with them and ask them how easy is it for them to manage their chores or what are the difficulties they are facing, this way you can help them, guide them as well as teach them to grow responsible.
Teaching responsibility from childhood means a responsible and dependable grown up, which is inculcation of such behavior need to be done in childhood.
