How To Teach Your Children To Be More Responsible

Everyone needs to learn how to be responsible. Responsibility is not a trait we’re born with, and it’s usually down to parents to pass the information along to their children in order to help them be more responsible adults. If you’re unsure how to do this, don’t worry; just as we’re not born knowing how to be responsible, you won’t automatically know how to teach responsibility to your children. Read on for some ideas about how to get started, though, because the sooner you start, the easier it will be.


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Get Them Involved In The Housework

Housework is a great way to teach your children responsibility, and if you start when they are very young, and if you make it fun (turning it into a competition or adding music to the task), they will never see this work as a chore – instead, it will simply be something that gets done around the house at a specific time.

You can start by asking them to keep their own bedrooms tidy and ensure that they spend time clearing up after themselves rather than doing it for them. As they get older, you can task them with other things such as vacuuming or dusting. When they’re even older, they can help prepare dinner too. By the time they are grown and move out, they’ll automatically know that housework is important and that it’s their job to do it no matter where they happen to live.

Encourage Them To Look After Their Possessions

Children have a lot of possessions, and a great way to help them be more responsible is to encourage them to look after those possessions. If they wear glasses, they need to keep them in case, for example, and if they have a bag to take to school, they should check they have everything they need for the day before they set off. In this way, they will get used to being careful with important items. You never know, as they grow up they might learn about understanding antique clocks or priceless paintings, and if they work in these areas, this kind of care will be invaluable.

However, even if they go on to work in an area where such care isn’t deemed to be so important, giving them an understanding of why they should look after their things is crucial. Not only will it ensure they are more careful, but it will save them money because they won’t have to keep replacing lost or broken items.

Praise Them

Children respond well to praise, so make sure that, when they do something responsible, especially if you’ve not asked them to, you tell them they’ve done a good job and you’re pleased with them. Even if they make a mistake, praise should come first. Of course, you should explain where they went wrong, but they are learning, and if they are trying, this is far better than not doing anything at all.

Be careful how you speak to your children. By criticising too harshly, they may step back from trying new things and being responsible by themselves just in case they make another error. So be kind, praise them, and help them learn from their mistakes. This will make them a lot more confident.

K Elizabeth xoxox

*Collaborative Post