Inspiring independence in toddlers

FOR many parents, preparing small children for kindergarten means purchasing the resources for their learning, and ensuring their educational readiness. Not to take away from the feeling of pride you experience as you hear the 26 letters of the alphabet falling of your little one’s lips, but educators say many parents get so caught up with making an impression that they forget to arm their children with essential skill sets that will help them to navigate the world outside of the home.

Do you think that your child is ready to venture into the big world without you? Not sure? With some time to spare before the anticipated start of the 2021/2022 academic year, check out these recommendations for how you can help to make your child ready for school by inspiring independence.

Allow them to practise dressing

A lot of little ones end up messing themselves up, not because they don’t know when they want to go potty, but because they can’t handle undoing buttons or navigate pulling down some shorts with elastic waists that are a little too snug. Practise undoing buttons and pulling down these shorts at home. You can find creative ways, or offer rewards for success.

Teach them how to open packaged snacks

Most manufacturers are making it easier for us to open snack packets, with special parts of the packaging to tug or tear open them more easily. Now, practise opening all the snacks that your little ones love and will take to school. Over time they will master it and won’t necessarily need to ask their friends or teachers for help.

Also, you should get them involved in the process of choosing snacks that they want each day and if it is that you are making their lunches, allow them to help.

Show them how to manoeuvre bags, lunch kits, etc

Buy your little one’s bag and lunch kit as well as water bottles a little earlier this year so you can practise opening and closing these items since they will need to engage all of these items daily and sometimes frequently. You don’t want your child depending on others all the time, even though the teacher will be just fine helping him/her.

Clean playing area

Now it’s time to get your little love more involved with clean-up chores. One important thing to encourage is for them to clean up after themselves. So encourage your toddler to pick up, clean and pack away his/her toys after use. This way they will be more likely to practise these habits of cleanliness and neatness at school.

Encourage sharing at home

An important part of fitting in and functioning well at school is the ability to interact appropriately, so you want them to be able to share school resources, toys, and to be able to take turns. If there are siblings in the home, use every opportunity to encourage sharing.

Give play dates a chance

Apart from the fact that play dates can help with your child’s level of interaction and can teach them to share, there is another aspect of independence that it helps to foster, and that is thriving in your absence. In this instance, we are referring to play dates hosted at a friend or family member’s home. It will help the child to get over separation anxiety and it will make saying goodbye when school starts much easier.

Help them navigate the tricky shoelace affair

If your chosen pair of shoes for your pre-schooler or kindergartner is donned with laces, then you might want to get your little one familiar with the knitting process. So, from now until school starts, choose shoes with laces every opportunity you get. There are many different knitting techniques, and if you aren’t versed in them, you can explore videos on YouTube for help. This can take a while for some children to learn, but they get better with practice.

Help them with conflict resolution

Toddlers think the world revolves around them; thankfully in the case of most it’s just a phase and they pass through it fairly quickly. In addition to this, many struggle with sharing and it is quite common for toddlers to have conflicts. When the other child is a classmate or friend you may want to swoop in and encourage your child to hand over the item, or nudge them to alternate use of toys. But while this is fine, you want to be a guide. You don’t want to fight their battles for them. Learning conflict resolution is a lifelong skill that will help them to navigate many trivial as well as problematic squabbles and challenges they will experience.