Let your Child make these 6 mistakes

Picture Credit: Mothering

Since a child is born we protect him to the hilt. He is cocooned and given warmth physically.

Well it is important for his development and growth. And remember this cocooning is also providing for his mental and spiritual growth.

This sheltering and cocooning sometimes leads to nagging and a hovering parent attitude. It causes more harm to the child than advantage.

Children learn by making mistakes. If life is all about learning then why do we shy from letting them fail.

“Remember that life’s greatest lessons are usually learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes.”

Failure is important. The child must taste failure before he tastes success. Failure teaches resilience. We are aware that success is not permanent. Everyone who is at the top does come down in the circle of life.

“Forget the mistake, remember the lesson.”

This is something which the parent should remember. The child should forget the mistake but remember the lessons that remain for a long time.

Parents do not want the children to make mistakes because when a child fails it is seen as the failure of the parent. The parent can only protect the child until he is ten or eleven years old. After that the child has to fend for himself.

Teenage years are really tough to handle for a parent as well as the teenager. Along with the physical issues, the mental and developmental issues get mixed up. In this stage, less of protection and more of support is desired to be offered by the parent. The teenager is learning to be independent but he feels that already he has developed the capacity to make good decisions which will give him the success rather than the failure as predicted by the parent.

Support and positive motivation have to be at the top in this stage. 

Temper and egos have to be controlled. A parent cannot have ego at this time for the teenager is already not willing to accept anyone else’s decisions for his life. Some of the best life’s lessons are learned during these years.

These years are also important because the child tends to remember everything that happens with him during these years. Childhood memories might not be remembered as vividly but the memories of the teenage years stay with them closely throughout their lives.

“A teenager is always too tired to hold a dishcloth, but never too tired to hold a phone.”

This quote somehow describes the attitude of these young mortals.

The parent must learn to wean away the over protective attitude before the child steps into the teenage.

The falls, the scratches on the knees, the peeled skin and the grazes everything merely helps the child to walk better and learn well.

So here are a few mistakes which you should let your child make-

-Exhaust the complete pocket money:

To develop a complete sense of financial independence and learning, it is important to let the child make mistakes while handling money. Generally when pocket money is allotted to the children, they tend to spend away most of it in the first few days. In spite of telling them to save a certain percentage from their pocket money, they like to squander it as soon as it is received.

Delayed gratification can also be taught with the help of pocket money. Once the money is spent the parent will have to constraint himself in giving away more money.

Hold yourself. You will be tempted to hand out more cash, but this is the right time to teach the child how to manage the given amount for a complete month and also end up with savings to buy something later with the saved amount.

-Not eat the vegetables in the school lunch:

Food is a real challenge for all the parents. With the online ordering and availability of food, the children seem to run away from good and fresh food cooked at home.

Eating the food in the school is a major problem. They do not tend to eat the vegetables which are sent. Once or twice let them come back with unfinished food in the lunch box.

Do not scold them for it. Otherwise they will start hiding the lunch box and the facts from you. It is better not to serve them food as soon as they return home if they have not finished the lunch in school.

One of my friends used to make her children eat from the lunch box which was given for school. So if her children refused to eat their lunch in school, they had to eat the same after returning home. Soon they started eating the lunch box given to them.

As a special treat you can offer them a day’s food at the school cafeteria.

-Stay up late at night before the exam:

Most children are in the habit of staying up late. So even before the examination they refuse to sleep early. Mobile gaming and other things keep them awake. They are unable to resist the temptation. This definitely puts you off as a parent. For once let them avoid studying and indulge in these useless activities.

Groggy eyes, unclear vision and hazy head will push the child towards non performance in the test. One failure is nothing in life. But let him realise on his own how he had to pay due to his own negligence.

“Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

-Forget the project file at home:

The above one is just an example. This refers to the habit of not taking care of their things and not planning or packing things in advance say a night before. This last minute pushing things in their bags really creates chaos and at times they forget to pack the important things.

Procrastination also pushes them towards not taking action at the desired time.

As a parent you want them to keep things in their places and pack their bags early so that all the important items are carried by them.

Call it laziness or call it procrastination they do not attend to these chores early.

Instead of reminding them do let them forget a nonessential thing or two. Soon they will learn to do things in advance.

-Go to school with incomplete homework:

This one really brings them on track ASAP.

Try it out. Instead of being after them every day leave them. Let them go to school without attempting homework.

The result in school automatically helps them change their tracks.

-Let the room be a mess:

A messy and cluttered room is a sore sight and difficult to digest for all mothers. But it will also not let them find the necessary things that they want.

Yes it also puts children in a bad mood and it is really bad for them.

Sooner or later they have to learn to do the things on their own.

Trust me they do realise that it has to be cleaned. But your daily reminders or asking frequently will not help the situation.

Leave them to learn this lesson.

Final Call-

Adults learn by mistakes so definitely the children also learn with them. The difference is that we reflect and learn, the children do not have the patience and the maturity to reflect.

But if you give them time they will surely pick up the important life lessons with these mistakes.

Follow me for more content: #KesarWritez

Do subscribe @kesarpatel1234