We all love doing things for our children but in just a few years they will grow up, move out of home, and live the way they choose to live. If we make sure that our teenagers can handle their present lives by themselves, then we can be rest assured of them tackling the future.
So its best to let your children do the following things by themselves!
Waking up
Yes, its time to stop waking up ‘kids’ and let the alarm ring till they wake themselves up. Children need to be trained to go to bed and wake up early right from middle school onwards. This would help them to be responsible adults in the future.
Preparing breakfast and packed lunch
Don’t we all love to prepare a lunch kit for our child? Of course its the pride of most mums! But no. Hold yourself off this task. Let you young boy get to the kitchen and eat what he prefers and also stuff his bag with what ‘he thinks’ is lunch. Yes, they will go for the chips bag, but, even with your packed lunch, they can buy chips or anything they like at school or after school. The big idea is to let them decide. And this is possible only when they realise the pitfalls of eating junk food the hard way. Yes, a good old stomach upset can help them learn to make a sandwich.
Reminders for homework and school work
Now, get this straight. You are not going to check her schoolwork or homework. Right from when they can read well, it’s their job to check their diaries and get the job done. They can ask for help while doing a task or a job or for advice. But reminders are not your job. As parents, we need to learn to keep off, not just from the teenagers’ room but also from their school work. That’s how they will learn to manage responsibility.
Laundry
Laundry is not anybody’s favorite job. We all hate it even as adults. But this is a chore to be done quite regularly and for the rest of their lives. So it’s better to let them handle their clothes themselves.
Being their back up plan
I have seen so many teenagers yelling “Mum I’m late and missed the bus! Can you drop me off?” Now, this is the classic situation when we all want to drop what we are doing and rush to the garage with the car keys. No. Stop sign. Your child needs to know that if they miss a bus, they should have a plan B in place to get to where they want. There is nothing that cannot be achieved by planning and being punctual is one of them.
Having pointed out all of the above, I’m sure there are bound to be some exceptions and parents do love to give a hand. But its best to keep off the young adult in the making.
If you have more ideas about what you don’t do for your teenager, feel free to write your comments below.