Empowering our Kids

Hello all,
This week I was able to attend a PTSA meeting, and presented alongside some Kinder and 2nd Grade Teachers about ways in which parents and school staff can empower our children.  These days, everyone is busier than ever and we find it hard to make the time necessary for kids to make their own transitions successfully.  We find ourselves frantically dressing them, or tidying after them, etc.  This can lead to low self-esteem and low confidence, as our children may infer that they are incapable of doing basic chores and daily tasks on their own.  Our kids are fully capable of doing many daily tasks, they just need us to help them help themselves :)
Here are examples of developmentally appropriate chores:

To help them do "Big-Kid" tasks, we need to make time for their transitions.  We can also offer them visual help, in the form of a Transition Checklist.  Here is an example:

Kids are often visual learners, and the executive functioning part of the brain is not fully developed.  This will help them to memorize the routine, and the more practice they have with this on their own, the less they may need to use the visual!
3 Cheers for independent and empowered children!!!