Self Discipline Starts with Small Responsibilities

Toys. Toy cars. Robots. Toy Planes.

All kids love playing with their toys, at least I think all of them. But after they play can lead into such big chaotic state and can be pretty irritating for moms who are always on the go or always in a hurry. Believe it or not, there is no other way to make this simpler than to start giving them with small responsibilities. Easy duties at an early age will discipline them and before you knew it, you are training them how to deal with their mess when they grow up!

After scattering all the toys all over the whole area, children just hate keeping their toys. And some moms tolerate them by not correcting them or by simply calling all the nannies to take care of the kids’ unwanted job. That is a big NO, NO for me. What I had been inculcating with son is this “It’s your mess. You made it. You clean it.”

The more parents or grandmothers distribute this workload to nannies or house helpers, the more they teach children how to be extremely LAZY. They always go like “Oh don’t worry sweetheart, yaya will clean it up for you because we’re paying them for that.” (Believe me because it happened to me and we got nannies when we were younger. It didn’t help me become responsible. It helped me how to sit on the couch and look at the helpers clean my mess for me which I believe isn’t good.)

Here’s a short step on how to make them reliable:

1.       Start giving sweet and yet effective orders to your little ones before they open toy boxes. “If you will play, you have to promise that you will keep your toys when you are done.”

2.       Let them enjoy playing until they had enough. When it’s already time for them to take nap or to keep all the toys in the boxes, you have to remind them of the promise they gave. “Baby, you promised me earlier that you will keep your toys after playing. Now, show me you can do that.”

In my son’s case, I don’t give his milk if he can’t clean up his mess or I don’t give the things he want after playing if he can’t fix everything. This is what we call conditional strategy when teaching kids in school. I don’t really go for cute puppy eyes. It doesn’t work for me because I’m a strict mom. Plus it’s more like BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, NOT BUYING IT!

3.       When they’re done fixing everything, compliment them all the time! Do not forget to tell them how nice or good they are for keeping their toys back in place. Once you tell them nice words, they will be encouraged to clean up again after playing because they love seeing moms or dads happy with what they are doing.

4.       Once you have started, do not miss a day not reminding them. And one day will come, you never have to tell them over and over again because they will fix it without you ordering them in an instant.

Well, self discipline starts with small responsibilities at an early age.

Have fun mommies!!!