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Time-Tested Idead on How To Raise Responsible
Children
In a media culture that doesn’t promote
responsibility, here are some time-tested ideas on
how to raise children to become responsible
adults.
Top Ten Ways to Raise Responsible
Children
1. Start them with tasks and chores when
they’re young. Young kids have a strong
desire to help out, even as young as age two. They
can do a lot more than you think if you have
patience and let them do it their way.
2. Don’t use rewards with your kids
If you want your kids to develop an intrinsic sense
of responsibility, they need to learn the “big
picture” value of the things they do. They
won’t learn that if they’re focused on
what they’re going to “get.”
3. Use natural consequences when they make
mistakes. If they keep losing their baseball
glove, let them deal with the consequences. Perhaps
they have to ask to borrow one for the game. Or,
perhaps they have to buy a new one if it’s
lost. If you rescue them every time they screw up,
they’ll never learn responsibility.
4. Let them know when you see them being
responsible. Specifically point out what you
like about their behavior. This will make it more
likely to continue to happen.
5. Talk often about responsibility with your
kids. Make responsibility a family value - let
them know it’s important.
6. Model responsible behavior for your
kids. They’ll learn most of their
responsible behavior from you. Remember that they
have a VERY close eye on what you do.
7. Give them an allowance early in their
life. Let them make their own money decisions
from an early age. They’ll learn their lessons
in a hurry.
8. Have a strong, unfailing belief that your
kids are responsible. They’ll pick up on
this belief and they’ll tend to rise to the
level of expectation.
9. Train them to be responsible. Use role
play and talk to them about exactly what kind of
behavior you expect from them. It’s hard for
kids to be responsible when they don’t know
what it looks like.
10. Get some help and support for your
parenting. At times it’s hard to know
whether you’re being too controlling or too
permissive as a parent. Talk to other parents, read
books, or join parent support groups - whatever
will help you feel like you’re not alone.
© 2007 Mark
Brandenburg
Other Father Issues,
Books,
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* * *
To this day I can remember my father's
voice, singing over me in the stillness of the
night. - Carl G. Jung
Mark has
a Masters degree in counseling psychology and has
been a counselor, business consultant, sports
counselor, and a certified life and business coach.
He has worked with individuals, teams, and
businesses to improve their performance for over 20
years. Prior to life and business coaching Mark was
a world-ranked professional tennis player and has
coached other world-ranked athletes. He has helped
hundreds of individuals to implement his coaching
techniques. Mark specializes in coaching men to
balance their lives and to improve the important
relationships in their lives. He is the author of
the popular e-books, 25
Secrets of Emotionally Intelligent
Fathers
 ,
and Fix
Your Wife in 30 Days or Less (And Improve Yourself
at the Same Time
).
Mark is also the publisher of the “Dads
Don’t Fix your Kids” ezine for fathers.
To sign up, go to www.markbrandenburg.com
or E-Mail
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