Independence

One of the things that will help your child most at school is a growing sense of independence. Being able to do things on their own gives children confidence to try other new things and to take risks. This is a good thing in many areas. If a child will take a risk, they will be more willing to try to figure out an unknown word or to try to solve a more complicated math problem. They become what we call self-extenders which means that they begin to learn on their own and this makes them feel great. You can help your child with this by asking them to do things that they are capable of doing on their own. I know that it can take way more time and patience on your part (believe me, I know) but it really does pay off in the long run.  So ask your child to do those little things that they are capable of doing on their own.

When children ask Cate and I to do things for them that we know that they are capable of doing on their own, we will ask them to find a friend to help them.  This serves several purposes including showing them that people their age can do the task, allowing them to learn from each other, making our crew stronger by building relationships, boosting the self-esteem of the friend who helps and more.

Some suggestions might be:
learn to write their last name
learn their address
learn a parent's phone number
tie their own shoes (there are so many great new techniques for doing this on youtube)
zip their coat
turn their coat right-side out
put on their own band-aids
make their own sandwich or bowl of cereal
pack their snack or lunch
do chores around the house

These little things will help them become more independent and feel more confident and this will carry over to their academic growth as well.