Empowering Kids To Make Decisions

In this article, you will learn about empowering kids to make decisions. The key to accepting responsibility for their life is to accept the fact that their choices, every one of them, are leading them inexorably to either success or failure, however, they define those terms.

Making good decisions is not an intuitive process. A decision can take people out of their ordinary comfort zones, and into unfamiliar areas. At the same time decisions can be hesitant, right, wrong, silly, unyielding, flexible, precise, thoughtful, joyful, regretful, big, small, and so on… However, no-one can escape decision-making because life is full of choices.

Children need guidance, often repeatedly over time, to begin learning these critical thinking skills but sometimes, children do not make good decisions because they do not know what choices they have and aren’t equipped with the necessary skills.

Decision Making can be Instilled in the Kids by-

• Modeling appropriate behavior:

As children follow their parents, so it is imperative that you as parent demonstrate good decision-making skills in front of your children and motivate them to think critically. Also, it is important to take into consideration all your decisions with aptness.

• Play Strategic Games with Kids :

Games like chess and checkers help to develop critical thinking skills in children. While playing those game they become accountable for their actions and also learn to envisage how to plan and take the future course of action and decide what to do next and that too independently.

• Giving Choices to Children :

It is important to let children decide by themselves but it is important that decision making should be solicited as age appropriate then only the kids can use their discretion in an effective manner. So it is important that children are given choices but a few things need to be considered while offering them choices like limiting the number of choices—the fewer the better; offering small manageable choices that are meaningful to the child and choices offered to children are based on his/her ability.

In today’s context, it is necessary to empower kids with decision making so that they face the world with confidence and self-worth and these are equally important for their personal and professional growth. Modeling good decision-making and providing targeted encouragement (rather than praise) can help children go a long way.

A Few Other Ways to Empower the Kids with Decision Making are –

• Use and reflect upon information-Information can be found everywhere, let them find it and reflect upon it.

• Teach them patience as it would help them to be persistent in their effort.

• Give them a responsibility to make them accountable for their decision but at the same time they should be taught that decisions can be changed if alternatives are given as we learn from our mistakes.

• Show them respect by respecting their decision their decision. Even if you do not go by their choice.

• Instill gratitude in them for being given an opportunity of making decisions.

• Provide guidance and support to them for their decision. Parents can support their children in becoming good decision-makers by showing them how to look at pros and cons and respond productively to the opposition—such as making use of problems as opportunities to fortify, fine-tune, and express their ideas.

• Don’t bail them out. They should be told that decisions take time and they should not take hasty decisions or decide without forethought.

• Let them make a decision and deal with the consequences. Learning to critique one’s own ideas can strengthen the ability to make decisions. This includes deciding which ideas are worth pursuing, and which should be abandoned or saved for later.

Parents can help their kids by providing choice and thus build the foundation for children to make good, thorough decisions, where they learn to see the outcomes and accept the consequences (if any) of choosing one over another. This helps the children make positive choices in their adolescent years when choices can be potentially critical. Thus teaching the skill of decision making early will definitely benefit them later in life and develop them into assured, contented adults.