Stop Sabotaging Your Child’s Success!
A few parenting tips By Evelyn Cucchiara, Founder & Creator of ‘The Toy Tamer’
We all want to be the best parents we can be, but some of the things we do now may be setting our children up for problems later. Here are three things you can change now to help assure your child’s future success.
Parenting Tip – Help your child succeed!
Photo Credit: SheKnows Blog – www.sheknows.com
- Honor the no. Your child has specific likes and dislikes right from the minute they are born.So do you. Unfortunately, they two don’t always match up. That’s why you have to honor your child’s no. This doesn’t mean letting them do whatever they want, whenever they want. It means that before signing them up for an activity, or dragging them off to an event, simply ask them if it interests them. Older kids can definitely tell you their likes and dislikes, younger kids tell you through their actions. Definitely let them try new things, but if they aren’t excited to go back, don’t force them. Why? Because honoring their no now while they are young makes them understand that their opinion matters, and no means no. Having this understanding now pays off big time when they are teens and adults and are facing peer pressure. Knowing that their no means no gives them firm ground to stand on – and it all starts when they are young. If no one honors their no as a child, why would they expect anyone to honor it as a teen or adult?
- Don’t over schedule. This is a natural outcome of honoring the no.Children need down time to recharge their imaginations and explore new ideas. If they are constantly going from one activity to another, they not only don’t have time to dream, they also don’t learn how to entertain themselves. We see that now in older teens – they have no idea how to do anything for themselves, everyone has always told them what to do and when to do it. So, unless you want to run your child’s life forever life, give them space now. According to Health Enews, http://bit.ly/1vwTmEu, over scheduled children have a decrease in creativity, less of an ability to take initiative and no longer know what to do with any free time they have. Children with unstructured free time, on the other hand, have more time to process activities and learning. They are more creative, self-driven, and independent.
- Provide a calm and orderly environment at home. Clean, neat and organized spaces are the building blocks of future success, and it’s where children learn the organizing skills they need as adults. It pays off not just in their surroundings, but in scheduling their time and organizing their school work. And it starts when they are young. Giving them order in their bedrooms and playrooms gives them the structure they need. It’s quite possible you didn’t learn organizing skills when you were a child, and that may be causing stress in your home. Once the clutter is gone, the stress lessens also. Suddenly you like your home better, everyone seems less grumpy and life is good again. But learning how to do this starts when they are young, so setting up clean, neat child friendly play spaces is the answer.
It’s time to rethink what we do when it comes to our children. More is not always better, either in activities or stuff. Listen to them, give them space and order and watch what happens.
Evelyn Cucchiara is the founder and creator of The Toy Tamer, a unique playroom organizing company that transforms your playroom from mess to amazing with their unique toy management system. An organized play space not only makes day to day life easier, but studies show that children who learn organizing skills early in life have more success in school.
http://www.TheToyTamer.com 
