How to Raise Helpful Children

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How to Raise Helpful Children 

Are you raising a child who thinks outside of themselves and is helpful? 

Raising children can feel difficult. We have so much that we have to do and often times we let intentionality fall to the wayside. But the truth is raising a child who thinks outside of themselves, are a helpful person and contributing member of society is an extremely important part of parenting. 

Being intentional with raising helpful kids can be done. It just takes work. 

It’s easier as an adult to do things ourselves and not expect much out of our children. However, you can be intentional with raising helpful kids with hard work and being relentless with your intentionality.

Why should you be intentional with raising helpful children? 

Why should you put in the hard work of raising a child who is helpful and considerate? Because helpers are important in society. Helpers see something that needs to get done and they don’t hesitate to do it. Your child will learn to recognize somebody who needs help without being asked. For example, if your child sees their mom is struggling to carry in the groceries they will jump to do it because they know that it needs to be done and that she needs help. Or if they see an elderly person struggling to open the door they will jump to open the door for them and not ignore them.

How to Be intentional with raising helpful children. 

Create moments of helpfulness. 

Create moments of helpfulness inside your home. These moments can be simple and easy and they should be. For example, if you are busy doing something and your dog needs to go out there’s nothing wrong with asking your child to open the door and let the dog out. Eventually, your child will recognize “hey our dog needs to go potty” and open the door without being asked. If your spouse needs the dustpan upstairs you can say “hey will you please grab the dustpan for your dad and take it to him?”

These are ways that you can create small moments of intentional helpfulness for your child. These moments don’t have to be anything big. These moments don’t have to be cleaning the whole room every day. They could just be a little things that you ask your child to do and they will start doing it automatically.

Be an example yourself. 

Children do what they see more than they do as they’re told. If they see that you are a helpful person then they will be more helpful. If they see that you go to someone’s house and you tidy up before you leave, help in the kitchen, or help with the dishes, then they will be more apt to be helping themselves.

Encourage helpfulness even when your child is young.

Most young children want to be helpful. The struggle a lot of adults have is that young children are not as competent as them when it comes to different things. Children take longer to complete a task and they’re not as neat. So instead of accepting the younger child’s help they push the child away to the point where the child doesn’t want to help anymore.

When your child is young encourage them to be helpful. If they want to help you stir the brownies then let them help you stir the brownies. You can clean up the mess later. I know it’s a struggle but in the end, it is worth it. Because during these moments you are teaching your child that their helpfulness is important and their helpfulness is wanted. 

Encourage your child to be helpful to others. 

You can encourage your child to learn how to notice signs that other people need help. Encourage them to be helpful with their siblings, helpful with their parents, helpful with their grandparents, etc. This will help instill a spirit of helpfulness wherever they go. This will help teach your child to notice that someone else needs help or that someone else could appreciate their help.

Engage your child’s interests. 

Engage your child interests. I know this sounds off the wall but hear me out.

If your child is really interested in cooking then engage their interest by asking them to help you cook meals. This will teach your child how to be helpful in the kitchen and as they grow they can take some weight off your shoulders and help make meals.

If your child shows interest in learning how to fold the laundry teach them how to fold the laundry. They don’t have to do it neatly just learning how to do it is a great skill to have.

Engaging your child with what they are interested in can be important. If your child is interested in helping their dad in the yard then engage that interest. This is instilling a spirit of helpfulness and also helps your child learn about something they’re interested in.

Most children are eager to be helpful. It’s important to encourage this helpfulness. 

Children are usually typically pretty helpful when they’re little. They want to be a part of the family and help where they see things that need to be done. When you encourage that helpfulness instead of shutting it down this will encourage your child to continue their growth of helpfulness around the house and outside in society.

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