Lazy kids can grow up to become lazy adults. They may end up having no motivation to get a job, no motivation to clean up after themselves and no motivation to look after their health.
No parent wants their kids to turn out this way. By preventing laziness in childhood, you can stop your kids picking up bad habits. Below are just a few different ways to avoid raising lazy kids.
Lead by example
Leading by example is a big part of conscious parenting and can help to inspire your kids to take up many positive traits. When it comes to preventing laziness in your kids, you can inspire your kids to be active and ambitious by being active and ambitious yourself.
This could include making an effort to exercise, tidying up after your mess or challenging yourself to pursue new goals. If kids see you doing all of this, they’re likely to be inspired to take up the same habits. If you spend most of your free time on the sofa watching TV, your kids are more likely to think this is normal behaviour and will do the same.
Be active together
Doing physical activities as a family is a great way to inspire kids to stay active. Not only will they be inspired by seeing you doing exercise, but they’ll learn to relate exercise with family time and happy memories.
Ways in which you can be active as a family include going on walks together, cycling together, playing games in the park or even taking up clubs together such as martial arts. Try to find a physical activity that you and your kids enjoy.
Set family goals
You can also prevent kids becoming lazy by setting family goals together that you can all strive towards. This can help your children to get used to goals as a normal part of life and may help your kids to be more self-motivated as adults.
Monthly family challenges could be a fun way of doing this – this could include not eating meat for a month or reducing screen time (you could schedule a screen-free hour every evening). You may even be able to learn new skills together such as taking up a musical instrument together or learning a foreign language. You can even encourage older kids to save up small contributions to family vacations.
Encourage kids to do things themselves
If you do everything for your kids, you’re raising them to be lazy. Taking a step back and encouraging independence in your kids can help them to understand the importance of doing things for themselves.
Kids as young as 3 can help out with household chores – even if it’s just tidying up their toys or helping you to carry clean laundry from the washing machine to the bedroom. You may even be able to turn these chores into a game to make them fun. Eventually, kids may start to do things without you asking such as putting plates in the kitchen after eating or making their bed.
Don’t be afraid to also let kids work out some problems for themselves. This could include asking them to find you a certain food when shopping for groceries or encouraging them to replace batteries on a toy by themselves. Just be sure to know when to step in if your kid is struggling.
Praise your kids’ efforts, not their achievements
Praising kids is important for building confidence and reinforcing good behaviours. However, many parents use praise incorrectly.
An example of praising kids incorrectly is focusing on achievements rather than congratulating the effort it took to get there. Instead of simply telling kids ‘well done, you did it’, it can be great to reinforce the fact that they worked to get that achievement with something like ‘you worked so hard to get this. I’m proud of you’. This can help kids to link hard work with accomplishments.
Reward kids for completing chores
When it comes to encouraging kids to do chores, offering rewards is another way of motivating kids. This could help your kids to be more driven by rewards as adults.
Many parents offer pocket money for completing chores. Others buy gifts after a child has completed a certain amount of chores. You could keep a chore chart for recording which chores your kids have done and you could consider offering extra points for chores that are done willingly without you having to nag your kids.
Encourage Kids to Take Up Hobbies
Hobbies are an excellent way to keep kids engaged in their spare time. Explore their talents, likes, and interests, then steer them into the direction they seem to enjoy the most. For example, if you have a child who likes to draw, encourage them to try their hands at different drawing styles and techniques. Watch YouTube videos with your kids to get some ideas on how things are done professionally.
If one of your kids is a ballerina enthusiast, supply them with ballet shoes or leotards they can use in the backyard. theballetland.com is an excellent place to get all ballet accessories. If another of your kids loves yoga, buy a mat and let them practice at home.
Investing in your kids’ hobbies encourages them to keep practicing, helping to develop their skills. Apart from the engagement, hobbies enable kids to discover their passion in life.It also builds confidence and a sense of direction. Kids with active hobbies are less likely to fall to peer pressure and harmful vices.
