BUILDING YOUR CHILD'S COMPETENCE

BUILDING YOUR CHILD’S COMPETENCE

Building a sense of competence is important for your child. Your children needs to have a supportive environment in order to learn competency. Your child will most likely get to the stage where they want to do everything themself. You may be experiencing your child saying, “ I can do it myself.” He doesn’t want you to hold his hand or help him get dressed. Your child is learning everyday what he is able to accomplish. It’s that sense of competence that tells your child he can in fact do it.

What is a supportive environment? A supportive environment is as important to the development of your preschool child as good health. Your child’s surrounding have to stimulate and support an emerging sense of competence.

What can you do as a parent to encourage competence in your child?

• Encourage your child’s talents.

• Help him to accept his limitations.

• Show him how to set goals. Make sure it is the child’s goal and not your expectation.

• Don’t compare one child with another.

• Make sure you have plenty of activities such as puzzles that will give your child opportunities to be successful.

• Do activities with your children that result in an accomplishment. For Example: Allow them to help mix, cook and decorate cookies.

• Teach your child problem-solving skills. Instead of stepping in and making a decision for your child when a problem occurs, help him think about ways to solve it. Learning to solve problems with other children is an important social skill, but when your child is able to solve a problem on his own it allows him to achieve a solution which results in building his own sense of competency.

• Encourage your child to ask questions. Usually preschool children go through the ‘why’ stage. Asking many questions all day. Never discourage your child from asking questions.

• Allow your child to express his ideas and his needs.

• Make available opportunities to work with various materials.

• Try to schedule time for your child to finish what he starts.

• Allow your child the opportunity to be rewarded for his success. For Example: Putting up the pictures he drew up on the wall for everyone to see.

Whether your child develops and feels a sense of competency depends on how his work is valued by the people he loves and respects.