Raising Independent Children Who Grow Into Independent Adults
There is so much to say about how to raise independent children. No parent wants to have to make lunch for their 8th grade son on a daily basis. Funny enough, this is the situation a psychology professor responded to on Twitter below:
Guy I know was complaining about making his 8th grader’s lunch. I didn’t have presence of mind to say anything so 3 days later I made this. I don’t think the guy’s is on Twitter, this is my therapy. pic.twitter.com/hKzGLch9yh
— Daniel Willingham (@DTWillingham) October 7, 2018
Willingham is a psychologist at the University of Virginia, where he is a professor in the Department of Psychology. Willingham’s research focuses on the application of findings from cognitive psychology and neuroscience to K–12 education.
This flowchart he created is so simple, yet so amazingly sophisticated. How often do we as parents take this approach with our kids? Often, in the interest of time, I find myself doing things for my kids I know they should be doing for themselves. From now on, I won’t.
This tweet, not only made me laugh when I saw it, it made me feel slightly ashamed. If I want to raise independent kids who grow into independent adults, it’s my responsibility to take the time to use the thinking that Willingham suggest.