How to teach children to make decisions

Educating children is the most important task for parents. This education involves helping children to have autonomy , have their own criteria and teach them to make decisions . Thanks to the learning of decision-making and the acceptance of its consequences, children will become independent, self-c

Educating children is the most important task for parents. This education involves helping children to have autonomy, have their own criteria and teach them to make decisions.

Thanks to the learning of decision-making and the acceptance of its consequences, children will become independent, self-confident adults. I explain how to teach children to make decisions.

Guidelines for teaching children to make decisions

Making decisions means having freedom and being who you want to be, but this freedom entails a certain maturity in the person to be able to assume responsibility for the outcome of the elections. Therefore, it is important that this learning starts from childhood. Teaching the child to make decisions is for the child to learn to value the different options

they have, to reflect on what each choice implies, to listen to each other, to know how to say no. How adults can help For children to live in a situation where they have to

choose between several options

is a new event because when they experience it they do not have the experience of previous scenarios. That is why it is important to teach them the correct way to make decisions. Therefore, it is clear that decision-making requires previous experiences

that help us to choose the best option. For this reason, it is necessary to teach and accustom children to actively choose even if it is about "small" things such as choosing the clothes they are going to wear; so that in the future, when they are adults, they will be prepared to face more complex choices. Teaching them to decide and giving them the necessary security to face the consequences

of their choices is a job that requires effort, many dedication and perseverance on the part of the parents and, as the children grow, also the teachers. Here are some recommendations to help children learn to make decisions: -

Avoid overprotection.

It happens on many occasions that parents are the ones who tend to do so in order to avoid negative consequences for their children. In doing so, parents deprive the child of the learning that comes with "wronging" and this can be counterproductive. To help it is good that adults adopt the role of companions providing support, and giving advice to their children so they are themselves who choose. - Establishment of responsibilities. For example, the distribution of household chores. These responsibilities

should be based on the age of the child. This division of responsibilities is very important in decision-making, since when taking on responsibilities, problems arise that have to be solved. This gives previous experiences that will help future elections. - Rate the errors. If every time the child makes a mistake he is punished and feels rejected, what he will learn is to never choose not to make mistakes and not have to assume the consequences. On the other hand, what we must teach him that making mistakes is an opportunity to learn and that an error is only a problem that has not been solved. -

That you value the different options. When the child is in a position to choose between several options, parents should encourage them to see the choice as a challenge that they must face with attention and time. Therefore, we must teach them to be patient and not act in an unthinking way. The child should assess what their preferences are and in this task the parents help by providing support, advice, listening, opinion and guidance according to the interests of their child. This will be

fostering autonomy and independence.