Learning Through Play

Do you find yourself always stopping your toddler before the puzzles are pulled off the shelf and onto the floor?  Perhaps at the playground you consistently hover over your little one while she runs from one activity to another?   All of us want our children to be safe and although we cannot imagine anything bad ever happening to them, can you over protect your child too much? Yes, you can and it is a balance that all parents have to struggle with.

Let your child take those puzzles down herself and see what happens.  If you give her opportunities to be independent, with your supervision, a lot can be learned from the experience regardless if she was successful in taking down the puzzle herself or not.  If they fall onto the ground and make a mess, she is faced with problem solving and coping opportunities.  If she is successful and takes down the puzzle by herself, she has learned that she can do things on her own and confidence is built up!  Regardless of the consequence, by allowing them to happen naturally, you are allowing actions to teach consequences.  Perhaps she’ll have a better way to get the puzzle down next time and use the opportunity to praise her efforts and offer assistance in cleaning it up so play can resume.

Are you a hovering parent?  Check yourself during times of unstructured play where your child is exploring on her own…are you only a step away and following her every move?  Perhaps you are right there to catch her once she trips and falls, but is that the best for her?  If she does actually fall to the ground while running, you can help her up, kiss the scraped knee and use the opportunity to teach coping skills and ways to stay safe while playing.

Natural consequences are an effective way to learn cause and effect, coping skills and encourage problem solving. By allowing her to make a mistake or do something on her own, you are teaching her so many valuable life lessons! Life for your toddler is like a constant science experiment with so many opportunities for hands-on learning.  The experiences and reactions are going to be more meaningful and effective when she is given such chances to “live and learn.”  Letting go to allow her to learn on her own is hard as a parent, but as soon as you allow her to learn from her actions she will begin to trust and learn about herself in a new light.