As an adult, you will know the importance of having patience as part of your character. For children, they will not know this yet and they might even think that waiting for things is the absolute worst thing in the world.
It is very easy to give in to your children’s demands and whims. Of course, we don’t want them to be uncomfortable, and of course, we don’t want to make them wait for things if they don’t like it.
But, helping your child develop patience is one of the best things that you can do for them.
Having patience is a skill that will help them through every stage in life.
That being said, let’s look at a couple of easy and proactive things you can do to teach your own child patience.
Delaying gratification
Delayed gratification is the concept of doing something now and receiving gratification for it further down the line, rather than right away.
For our children, we are probably used to giving them treats and rewards for something they have done right away, to make them happy, to reinforce good behaviour, and to stave off any potential tears or tantrums.
However, this is not a good way to teach patience.
In order to teach our children patience, we need to show them that having patience leads to rewards and that it is overall a good thing.
We can do this by, for example, rewarding their weekly chores at the end of the week, giving them an end of term treat for good school behaviour, or anything that gives them a treat or reward after they have exhibited good behaviour.
It shows them that good behaviour pays off, but it might take a while for that to happen and that is ok.
Removing distractions from waiting times
We can help our children develop patience by removing distractions when we are waiting for things. This could be in the doctor’s office, on public transport, or waiting for a show to start.
Many of us probably slip easily into the bad habit of giving our children their iPad, gaming systems, or toys as soon as they have to wait for something, even if it won’t be a long wait.
But this only teaches them that they can be entertained every second of every day.
It is better to show them that at times we have to wait for things and while that isn’t fun, it is important and part of life.
Try to push through the initial discomfort that this will cause and look at the bigger picture instead.
Planning fun for the future
Sometimes we shy away from telling our children about trips or fun adventures planned for the future because we are worried about their impatience and having to deal with it until the event itself.
But it can be a very beneficial thing in order to build patience.
We can tell our children about trips booked for Summer early and allow them to be excited about it in advance. It will help them build patience and again, know those good things can take time and that’s ok.
Constant treats and rewards might seem like a good thing at the time, but it will only make our children impatient and short-fused down the line.
It is better to begin developing patience as soon as you can so that they can grow up as patient as possible.
It’s something that you won’t regret doing, trust me.
