Teaching responsibility to children

Educating in responsibility is about helping and teaching children to assume their mistakes, to rectify if necessary, and above all to fulfill their obligations and commitments. It is very important that parents do not confuse responsibility with obedience, because if children act only out of obedience they will end up becoming submissive children. They should ask, ask for clarification, complain, and in this way parents will have the opportunity to teach them the value of doing certain things.

Children do not know their limits, this makes them feel very insecure, and most of the time it is the cause of their misbehavior. For this, it is advisable to establish a series of standards that serve as reference points. These rules must be established from the time the child is young so that little by little she assumes them. Although it should be borne in mind that we should start with simple tasks that we know the child knows how to do, so that he does not get frustrated if he is not able to develop a very advanced task for his abilities and little by little introduce and teach other more complex ones. . So as the child grows, more is demanded of her.

Some important elements that we must teach you are:

1. Teach the value of effort. The best inheritance that parents can leave their children is to endow them with the ability to fend for themselves, to face difficulties, to know the value of things, etc. Therefore, parents should present effort as something positive and not as a burden or a disgrace. Children should see effort as something natural, as a means to achieve a goal.
2. Encourage participation in household chores. Since children are very young, they should be involved in household chores. They should be given very small responsibilities, such as putting napkins on the table, picking up toys, respecting schedules, keeping commitments (if the child has decided to play a sport, he must be consistent with the decision and respect the days training, schedules and the difficulties that this entails). The tasks should have a moderate and progressive difficulty, and above all, adapt them to the child’s age and ability.
3. Parents should never take responsibility for the tasks that their children must fulfill, they can be helped, guided, or advised, but they should never assume those responsibilities in a way that the child neglects. For this you have to stand firm and not lose patience.
4. Praise children when they fulfill their obligations. Congratulate and praise them for their small accomplishments, show them how important it is to carry out their responsibilities, and should they be wrong, they should be encouraged and taught the right way to do it. Parents should explain the reason for these mistakes and teach them the proper way to do things.