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Name: Tanya

[ Original Post ]

My 6yr old daughter Olivia is not very independent.

She gets me to do things that she can do for herself. These things are; choosing her clothes, getting dressed, brushing her hair/teeth, bathing herself, making breakfast/snacks/supper, putting on and fastening shoes/jacket, walking to school with friends.

She watches far to much television in my opinion. From moment she wakes up until time for School and from time she gets back in from school until bedtime, she is either watching cartoons/kids tv or playing her xbox.

Everytime that we are out, she holds my hand, which I am not to bothered about but I would like her to walk to school by herself in at least 2yrs time. I also don't mind fastening zip of her jacket but again, want her doing it herself in a years time (she can do it herself but is too lazy to)

Should I be worried about her lack of independence or is that normal for 6yr olds? ↓

Name: Gabbs | Date: Jan 31st, 2015 4:19 AM

Hey Tanya,

I'm not trying to be rude but a 6 year old probably shouldn't be cooking her own meals but then again i understand if it's just something like making her own sandwich or cereal stuff like that.

I have an 8 yr old step daughter so i can kind of relate i guess. Her father and I try many things to get her to earn things like watching tv or Wii time. If you feel that she's watching too much tv you can limit it to after school for 2 hours if homework and chores are done same thing with the xbox. You know like one hour of tv one hour of xbox or 2 hours doing one or the other.

If she tells you she's not doing her homework and/or her chores. simply tell her she will get five minutes taken away from tv/xbox time. if she gets upset or mad at you it's completely normal they still love you and will only be mad for a little while. My step daughter always want's to watch tv here when we have her every other weekend.

We give her chores to do and if they are not done then she looses tv time or the privilege to stay up until 9. I understand it's hard when she may say "mommy i can't zip my coat" or "mommy tie my shoes i can't reach" it all happens to the best of us when we have a hard time putting our foot down. especially when you have been doing it for her when she really wasn't able to do those simple little things.

you could always start slow like take a week and have her zip her own coat if she refuses or says you have too you can use the tv/xbox time as a way to "bribe" her to at least try to do it on her own. I hope i could help at least a little on the subject just remember it all takes time =] ↑