How to make your child independent in early childhood

Recently Kids Club Northern Beaches hosted a Parent Information Evening with special guests Donna & Angela from Back on Track Consultancy.

The information session covered how to build independence and resilience in our children. Along with many other helpful techniques and tips on early childhood development topics.

In this short segment from the Question & Answer time, Donna and Angela answer real parent questions on how you can build your child’s confidence in social settings and support their independence.

Some of the handy tips mentioned in the video include:

1. Give your child opportunities to practice the skills in a place where they feel comfortable
2. Talk to your child’s educators to learn how they behave at school
3. Encourage your child to say hello to family and friends
4. Never push or force your child when they are uncomfortable

Even more from Kids Club!

Kids Club Early Learning Centres are excited to have exclusively partnered with global children’s food expert Annabel Karmel to develop a range of healthy nutritional recipes across our centres in NSW & ACT.

To sample a yummy taste of what our children are eating, download this free ebook and cook like Annabel!

Transcript: 

How we can encourage a child to be independent when they’re quite attached. Okay. I’m not sure how old this child is. Unfortunately. It’s hard to give an answer because a two year olds, very different to a four year old. Okay. With a two year old, the behaviour is actually quite normal. Um, two year olds will tend to go out into the world and then come back for comfort. Okay. Then they’ll go back out into the world and then they’ll come back for a cuddle and a bit of comfort and make sure everything’s okay. A three and four year old, um, will often, some children can often be quite on, sorry Don, I’m going to use the word shy. I know it’s not one of your favourite words, but maybe cow behind you a little bit and not be confident in certain situations.

But that’s also quite normal. They’re sussing out the situation. They’re trying to work out what they feel comfortable doing as parents. We should never push them into a situation that they’re not comfortable in. Okay. So to encourage the child, an older child with independence, um, I would be taking them to places where they can practice that skill where they’re comfortable. Okay. I’d also be talking to the educators, um, of the child and see what they like in the childcare environment. Cause I often get parents asking me, Oh, my child’s so shy, or, or my child’s not demonstrating independence when we go to a family gathering. And I’m like, well, that’s not kind of how I see your child in this environment. Your child’s very independent here and very capable. Okay. Maybe when they’re in a big family environment and they’re two big family do, they might actually just feel a little bit uncomfortable.

It might take them a little bit of time to warm up. Um, I know when we were children, we were pushed out into the world. Okay. And we were told to say hello to everybody and shake everybody’s hands and, and kiss everyone on the cheek. Um, these days we don’t tend to do it as much. Okay. And we often will explain to people that, you know what, my child would talk to you when they’re ready. They just sussing out the situation. Okay. So I wouldn’t be pushing them, but I would definitely encouraging them to be more independent. Um, but offering them lots of encouragement.