Let Them Do It First, Then Help Them.

When your child is trying something for the first time it can be very tempting to take over and do it for them thinking we are helping them. Often we do this without knowing because we don't want them to fail or make mistakes and then we scratch our heads wondering why they take longer to learn some things. One of the quickest ways to destroy your childs self esteem is to take their  ability make mistakes and learn to achieve away from them. It is part of their self development and  path to independance in the future. Your child learns best when they do it themselves and as they get older you will find they will do it the wrong way even after the best advice is given, this is part of learning. Here are few tips to help us let our children crash and burn and learn.

• Plan to have time to let them try new things such as tying shoe laces, writing their name, getting dressed.
• Let them make mistakes all the way to the point where they  are aware it has not worked and then work with then on the right way to do it.
• Be patient,  as some things take a few goes to get right.
• Don't take over, offer assistance in a gentle way but don't  say "here let me do it" or  " I'll do it because  you are taking too  long and we don't have time"
• Be supportive, when things don't go right.
• Be positive nomatter the result
• Talk about how they went about the experience so they can work through what works well and what could be done different
• reward them when they achieve milestones or new skills.

Learning new things should be a positive experience for both of you and letting them try it themselves does wonders for creating an independant confident person.