Let them make mistakes

A VISIT from an old friend should be something to look forward, not something to dread.

My old friend has turned into the mother that ‘can do it better than everyone else’.

I watched as she stopped her little girl doing many of the things that I encourage my two girls to do.

While I want my girls to climb, explore and seek adventure, I won’t let them climb up a set of ladders. But if the chair isn’t too high I will allow them to climb onto it and fall off it.

I think you need to let your kids fall over. They have to fall off that chair. You need to let them make mistakes, put their trousers on inside out, their jumpers on back to front. If you don’t let them how will they learn?

Studies have shown that children with over anxious parents with too much involvement in their lives are more likely to become adults that suffer from anxiety disorders and lack trust in their own decision making.

Dare I say that I know a few mums that already ‘ know’ what their toddlers are going to study at university…

I’ll be happy if mine make it through today at nursery.

I don’t correct them constantly in front of people. If my daughter visits someone’s house and announces at the dinner table that she doesn’t like the macaroni then this was an innocent and honest statement with no intention to offend. I will have a chat with her after dinner, without embarrassing her.

I wait until they ask for help without pouncing in and doing everything for them.

This way they will learn how to sweep and mop the kitchen floor so I don’t have to.

They’ll dress themselves in the morning so I can lie in.

I mean, it turned out alright for Cinderella in the end didn’t it?

So there you go. Am I raising over- confident children that no one will like? No. I’m trying to raise confident and independent women who say what they mean and mean what they say.

Come back and see me in 20 years and maybe I’ll be telling you how not to do it!