Young Children and Independence
“The essence of independence is to be able to do something for one’s self.”
~ Maria Montessori
“I do it!” Young children often strive for independence. Helping them to develop a sense of independence can be as simple as choosing everyday tasks and putting in place a system or procedure that enables a child to do it independently.
Like making pink milk!
A daily occurrence in our house, by transferring the drink powder into a small jar and using a small jug for the milk (purchased from a thrift store), this is a task Immy has been doing herself since well before she turned three.
What systems do you use to make everyday tasks manageable for your child and their developing independence?
My next challenge is to set up our snack options, inspired by this post at Counting Coconuts.
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We have similar little jugs for our girls (2 and 4) to add the milk to their cereal in the morning. They choose their own spoons from the drawer and also clear the table after breakfast by putting cups, bowls, spoons (all plastic) in the sink. They put their jugs beside the sink so they don’t smash as Miss 2 is fond of launching her cup into the sink and exclaiming “great shot!”
I’m just in the process of reorganising our kitchen so that J has full access to everything he needs. At 28 months, he made his own breakfast this morning; got out the cereal, bowl, spoon and milk. Then poured the cereal and the milk without spilling a drop. He was so very proud of himself.
I love this post. We need to make tasks achievable for our little ones but helpful for us too.
It reminds me of my daughter’s first gluing experience – at about 12 months old.
The majority of my teaching experience is with children aged 9-17. I didn’t give too much thought into how much glitter/stars I would give her. I just put the whole jar in front of her. I quickly learned to give her a minimal amount (as you did with the strawberry flavouring). he he!
Aidan is all about helping so I let him do alot of things, he’ll be 4 soon so don’t need to alter things alot.
he has his own little chopping board (plastic small one from $2 shop) and butter knife he uses to chop veggies, he stands on a stool & packs the cutlery away from the dishwasher, he carries the shopping in from the car (1 or 2 things in a green enviro bag) he gets the breakfast bowls out of the dishwasher and gets the weetbix from the pantry (IKEA stools are perfect!) uses honey from a small squeeze bottle.
he loves the feeling of independance & I am all for it!!
x
It’s something a parent needs to stay on top of or the children will find ways to independent themselves (ways that aren’t always safe or ideal or are too messy). I’m thinking of stools to step up on… as a child I remember climbing up on the countertop to reach high cupboards in the kitchen and here (I caught our daughter improvising because I didn’t have a stool where one was needed):
http://www.wordplayhouse.com/2011/06/reflecting-on-childhood.html
This is a great post, because I just had a moment of realization recently. I was about to put my daughter’s clothes into the washer but I walked a way for a minute and came back to see her doing it herself! A lightbulb went off and I thought “of course!” She can do that. She can’t reach to put the soap in, but she can certainly reach high enough to put the clothes in now. Sometimes you get so used to doing things for your little ones, that you don’t realize just how big they have gotten. It’s sweet. She has always been a big help and loves to assist in the kitchen. But now she is big enough to help with even more complex chores, and that is fun!
This has started me thinking that I need to do this more intentionally. There are little things my daughter does to help and be independant but I think there is a lot more she could do. Thanks for the inspiration and I look forward to reading more of your ideas
Yes I love seeing my little ones 3yo & 1 1/2yo dragging the milk and juice cartons across the kitchen every morning. And so nice to encourage Mr 3 to help his little sister by opening the fridge door. They also have other tasks like putting away their pjs, putting dirty clothes in the basket etc that somedays they are more or less excited to do. I love infusing a positive attitude towards chores, which of course is something I have to keep working hard at modeling myself. Nice post 🙂
Christie, I love this post – as many of the other commenters have mentioned, I think it is something I definitely need to be more intentional about and you have made me more aware of that. Sometimes it feels so much easier (and cleaner) to do things for my children, but I do realise how much they relish the feeling of doing things for themselves. My 3 year old, especially, really loves being able to do ‘adult’ things and it makes her feel special when she can help me (something I should encourage while it lasts!). We recently rescued a cat from the SPCA and she has taken on the responsibility of feeding it every morning. It really is quite delightful watching her growing independence before my eyes. H xo
With children ages 13, 8 and 5, it is wonderful to see them able to creatively and cooperatively handle cooking/food preparation tasks. They have always had access to our pantry and understand knife and cooking limits that vary for each of them. This week I was treated to the best birthday cake I have ever set my eyes on. Another night my husband and I were presented a delicious chicken stew with fresh herbs from our garden and for lunch one day we sipped smoothies. They now run the pantry, prep and grocery lists for what they need. The children have been enticed into the kitchen since they were a young age. Our oldest was the queen of creative concoctions-colors, flavors and textures. Our middle was the follow the recipe police officer and many a tantrum was thrown when we creatively substituted or left out ingredients. And the youngest is begging for her older sisters to let her do more. Having both mom and sisters to cook with, she is the most eager. I asked them when they would like to host the next family meal. “A week from Thursday,” was the reply. I am ticking off the days.