9 Bad Reasons For Not Teaching Your Child How To Do A Task

1.      It will take longer of my time to teach him than to actually do it. (Think long term.)

2.      Even after I teach her and no longer need to help them it will take her longer than it takes me. (Does this matter?)

3.      He might not do it perfectly. (You don’t do it perfectly either and he’ll get better)

4.      I might find out she’s better than me at this. (You’ll get over it.)

5.      He might break something (Okay, this is bad dependant on what they might break)

6.      It might turn out that she is too young to do this task. (This won’t happen very often)

7.      It might turn out that he doesn’t have this skill and never will (He needs to learn this lesson).

8.      I don’t want to be a slave driver. (Consider: what percentage of your life is non-work? And what percentage of your child’s life is play).

9.      She might not feel like doing it. (This is another lesson she needs to learn).

All humans want to be useful and appreciated for what they do. Your child is a human.

Do you have any other reasons? I have left a couple off to see if you can come up with them.

What successes have you had teaching your child to do some important task? What have you been surprised to learn they can do?

* Pictured: Adelyn (age 8 ) in the kitchen.