7 tips to promote your child's independence

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Easily guide your child towards greater autonomy

Autonomy allows a child to acquire more independence, but also self-confidence. As they grow, new learnings and small daily gestures can be taught to them. The child is delighted and the parents' daily life is a little lighter!

If you want to guide your child towards more autonomy, we suggest you discover 7 tips in this direction!

Equip your home

To guide a child towards more autonomy, it all starts with setting up suitable equipment in the house. The Montessori method is precisely designed to promote children's autonomy and Montessori furniture will therefore be perfect for implementing new habits.

Lit cabane 90x140 évolutif ELLY - Blanc

The Montessori bed

The Montessori house bed is a children's bed that can be found in many bedrooms. Close to the ground, this evolving children's bed allows even the very young to get in and out of their bed independently. This gives them the possibility to be more independent during nights and naps. We can notably offer them a night light that changes color depending on the time. They then know whether it's time to get up or not. The Montessori children's bed can also be an evolving children's bed that can accommodate an extension as the child grows.

Tour d'observation Montessori NATEO - Blanc/Bouleau

The Montessori observation tower

Another essential piece of Montessori furniture: the Montessori observation tower. This step stool with guardrails allows the child to gain height to share various daily activities, especially cooking. They can then participate in preparing a meal or a snack while being at the right height and without risking a fall.

Meubles et jouets montessori

Other furniture to choose

Beyond the bed and the Montessori observation tower, any other furniture or equipment that will be at the child's height will be welcome. A wooden desk for children, a low wardrobe, storage at their height... There are many ways to make access easier for your child and then set up a routine focused on autonomy.

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Offer daily household tasks to perform

Once the house is more adapted to your child, it is possible to implement daily tasks for them to gain autonomy. Adapted according to the child's age, these tasks can be a multitude of small gestures such as:

  • Prepare the bag for daycare
  • Put on their shoes (a tip is to draw a little figure on the inner sole of each shoe so they kiss, thus eliminating the issue of right and left shoes being reversed)
  • Put away groceries
  • Start the dishwasher
  • Put toothpaste on the toothbrush
  • Wash their hands
  • Find matching pairs of socks in clean laundry
  • Set the table
  • Choose their clothes
  • Tidy up their belongings
  • Feed the cat
  • Etc.
Petit garçon mettant son linge dans la machine
frère et soeur dans la salle de bain se brossant les dents

Don't overprotect them

It's not always easy to let your child become more autonomous, and you may tend to worry about seeing them do certain tasks alone. As long as you remain vigilant about your child's safety, giving them a little more freedom shows them that you have confidence in them and their abilities. As a parent, you should therefore try to remain reasonable in your desire to overprotect your child.

Listen to their request

The path to autonomy should be enjoyable for both the child and the parents. It then seems relevant to follow your child's rhythm. If they are very eager to learn and be independent, it is recommended to not curb this desire and find ways to respond to it to encourage their desire for autonomy. If they seem uninterested in taking on certain tasks, perhaps it's better to find others for which they will have more enthusiasm.

Let them make their choices and give them time

Even if the days are short and there are many things to do, guiding your child towards more autonomy requires patience. Things that only take a few seconds for adults can take several minutes for children. It will therefore be necessary to take this time into account in daily life.

An excellent exercise for a child will be to choose their clothes. This encourages them to make choices, but also to assert their tastes and preferences. For this, the wardrobe or dresser must be prepared in advance with, for example: a pile for pants, one for t-shirts, and one for sweaters. The child then knows that they must choose one of each. This task can require a good moment of reflection. Thus, if it takes 10 minutes at the beginning to choose their clothes, perhaps it's better to propose this activity in the evening to avoid stress in the morning before leaving for school.

Petite fille choisissant ses vêtements

Challenge them and encourage them

Children grow and evolve every day. A task that yesterday took them 15 minutes will soon only take 3. Therefore, you will need to find new challenges for them to take on! There are many things that can be proposed depending on your child's evolution. In any case, it is important to encourage them despite failures so that they don't get discouraged and keep this desire to move towards more autonomy.

Be patient and positive

Being patient and positive is certainly the best attitude to have when guiding your child towards more autonomy. Progress will be noticeably felt over time and the whole family will enjoy seeing the youngest evolve and grow by participating in the daily life of the home!