Wednesday, May 29, 2013

It's Hard, I Need Help

Tukker turned 4 a couple weeks ago and has really been enjoying the freedom to do "bigger things." With that though, has come more frustrations and "I can'ts".  I want him to have the confidence that he can do anything, and "I can't" does not exemplify that trait. When he was just starting to talk we replaced it with, "It's hard, I need some help." I loved it!  We started with the least amount of help(verbal direction first) then added more assistance as needed.  This way he did as much of it on his own as he possibly could.  At the end he feels a sense of accomplishment that fuels him for the next new challenge.
I have had re-teach this concept the past couple of days. The Little Engine That Could is my favorite book on perseverance, and I love to use fun books to drive a message home.  I can already see an improvement in his confidence and attitude when working on something new.  I was just putting Brekkon down to nap, and asked him to load his dishes in the dishwasher(Its a 4 year old thing he loves to do) and he came running upstairs beaming, "Mommy I started the dishwasher for you!!"  I was nervous but excited that he had the confidence to try. (He has also mopped the floor with toilet paper for me as well, this is where I practiced patience and praised him for his thoughtful heart!)  
As a side note there are things that we have decided not to help him with until he is able to do them on his own...for his safety.  Below are the pictures of what he has been trying to do for 2 years(we would not help him get the car to the top of the slide) He accomplished this on his own right before turning 4.  At 2 he would try to push the car up the slide and say, "want to push it up, so I can "ide" down!"

1 comment:

  1. To be fair, he did get help the first time, he was able to con his brother into helping!

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