In an age where the world is literally at our fingertips, things are in many ways easier than they ever have been. Children have access to technology their parents would never have dreamed of, however, and this opens up an entirely new world of challenges. It is a parent’s responsibility to raise their children well, but how do you raise your child to be self-reliant when there are so many shortcuts available? Keep reading to find out.

Tips to Raise a Confident and Self-Reliant Child

Many children today are coddled by so-called helicopter parents who are overly involved in their child’s lives. It is important to keep our children safe and to make sure they have the tools they need to succeed, but it is just as important to step back and let them become who they are going to be.

If you want your child to grow up to be confident and self-reliant, here are a few things you should start doing right now:

• Teach your child life skills. Your child can’t survive, let alone thrive, in the modern world without life skills. Involve your child in daily activities like cooking dinner, doing laundry, and handling money so they learn to use these skills themselves.
• Cultivate emotional intelligence in your child. Many children are inherently selfish, but they have a great capacity to learn compassion for others – they just need someone to teach them. Teach your children the importance of cultivating and maintaining relationships with others.
• Give your child the freedom to choose. Everyone learns by doing, so if you want your child to learn to make confident decisions for himself, you need to give him the opportunity to do so. Give your child the freedom to speak his mind and to make as many decisions as he can safely do so himself.
• Work with your child. Many parents assume that they need to act like a dictator, controlling their child’s actions for his own safety. If you want your child to learn to be self-reliant, however, you need to give them some control over their lives by working with them, not just over them.
• Set high expectations. The most successful people today grew up in an environment where their parents expected a great deal from them but gave them the freedom to fail. You can’t force your child to be self-reliant – they must know that you will always be there to support them while giving them the space and opportunity they need to succeed on their own.
• Let your children experience failure. Everyone fails from time to time, and it is important that you give your child the opportunity to fail and that you let them see your own failures as well. Every failure is a learning experience and the sooner your child learns that, the better.

Being a parent is by no means an easy task, and there is no specific right or wrong way to do it. You must do your best to shape your child into the kind of person who will succeed in life by working hard and making smart decisions. If you can teach your child to be self-reliant and confident from a young age, you’ll be setting them up for a successful future.