Raise Responsible Kids

Raise responsible kids. It’s an ongoing task for parents. Guide kids in making good choices because as kids mature, the stakes are higher. Modeling accountability, having appropriate expectations, providing routines and opportunities for kids are all part of raising children to be responsible adults.

Seven Tips to Raise Responsible Kids

1. Model
   Be trustworthy, honest, dependable, and accountable as a parent. Children do as they see more often than they are told. Use kind words, gestures, and interactions with others. Stand behind what you say, being a person of your word. Keep confidences.
2. Expectations
   Be clear in your expectations. Expect kids to do their best. Post your family’s mission statement in a common area of your home. Refer to it often.
3. Routines
   Being prepared is a part of being responsible. Become a “night before” family. Have kids prepare for the next day by packing their backpacks with gym shoes, books, show-and-tell items, school projects, signed permission slips, or anything else needed for the next day of school. Do the same for activity bags.
   Laying out clothing for the next day gives kids a few extra minutes in the morning. It also takes the angst out what a child is going to wear. The child chooses, then gets dressed in the morning.
   A family calendar is a very helpful tool to keep the whole family on track!
4. Opportunities
   Give children chances to be responsible. Taking care of everything from their own possessions to homework and library books trains kids to take care of things. Cleaning one’s own room alone or with roommates is a wise expectation.
   Allow your little ones to help, even when it’s faster to take care of the job yourself. Check out this post for ideas: Little Jobs for Little People.
5. Praise
   Catch kids being responsible! At family meetings, comment on responsible words and actions you’ve heard and seen during the week.
6. Failure
   Allow your children to fail. Valuable lessons are learned when kids fail. It’s sometimes difficult for parents to stand back rather than solve a child’s problem. There are consequences for not doing one’s job. Give children the opportunity to fix their own mistakes.
   Instill a “can-do” attitude in your child. Help kids to be brave in trying again after failing at a task or activity.
7. Choices
   Guide your kids in making good choices. As kids get older, the stakes are higher. Allow kids to make decisions and experience the consequences of poor decision when they are young and living under your roof. Good decision-making skills are lifetime skills.

And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
Luke 6:31

© 2022 Becky Danielson. All rights reserved.

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