May 14, 2025

6 tips to develop your child’s independence

At the ages of 3 to 6 years old, children are growing enough to try doing certain tasks independently. If you’ve seen this in your own child, it’s probably led to some of your proudest moments as a parent. 

These little moments may be small milestones, but they’re vital ones. When your child learns to put on his/her shoes for the first time – or when he/she starts tidying up toys himself/herself – those are your child’s first steps towards independence!

This essential skill can equip your child with confidence, problem-solving abilities, and resilience. These are abilities that can gear up any child to take on challenges in the future.

If you want to encourage independence in your little one, the ideas below may help.

1. Set predictable routines

Establishing consistent routines is a good way to promote child independence. Through routine, children have a clear notion of what to expect and what’s expected. 

It can be as simple as teaching your child to prepare his/her toothbrush for brushing in the morning. Or even showing him/her how to put on a shirt or socks without assistance.

Daily exposure to such routines gets children accustomed to them, and at some point, they’ll figure out how to execute them without your intervention. 

Make sure you praise your child for his/her efforts too. We always reinforce successes like these for the children in our care at My Little Campus and it works wonders!

2. Give age-appropriate responsibilities 

Children love mimicking adults. So why not encourage them to mimic adult responsibilities? 

For example, start giving small household tasks to your little ones. Give them chances to do chores that are safe for them to handle, like packing their own bags the day before school.

Chores like these are great activities for building independence. They encourage self-reliance while also developing practical skills and giving children a sense of achievement and responsibility.

At My Little Campus, for example, we encourage our children to clear their dishes after meals. It’s a simple yet effective way to nurture their independence and explain responsibility.

3. Allow children to make mistakes

This is so important! Most parents have an urge to step in and correct matters when a child does something wrong or struggles with the execution of a task.

But that may actually work against you because allowing children to make mistakes can teach them valuable lessons about perseverance and problem-solving. 

Among other things, it’s about giving a child the chance to overcome a setback himself/herself. This was referenced too by the team that produced the On The Red Dot episodes about children running errands on their own. It can be hard, but also rewarding.

This also means that parents should avoid being overly critical. It’s all right to point out that a mistake has been made, but try your best not to make children feel that mistakes aren’t acceptable and will result in criticism or a scolding.

Encourage your child to overcome mistakes by forgetting about perfection – focus on the value of effort and the notion of learning through experimentation. 

This is a great way to teach a child to persevere after each stumble. Instead of framing them as major mistakes, every error just becomes a chance for him/her to learn. That’s the foundation for lasting resilience.

4. Encourage decision-making

Letting your child make decisions is a big part of helping him/her build independence. At the same time, you don’t want to overwhelm your child with too many choices. 

Our advice here is to limit the choices to ones that you think appropriate while still offering enough variation to make sure your child feels a sense of agency. 

Don’t ask your child to pick out his/her whole outfit for the next day, for example. Instead, pick out two outfits and offer your child the choice between both!

You can even try guiding the decision-making if your child seems stuck. Gently ask what your child is leaning towards, what’s blocking his/her decision, and so on.

5. Nurture emotional independence

Emotional independence gives your child the ability to regulate his/her emotions as needed. This can prevent difficult responses like tantrums later on.

A good option here is to help your child understand feelings better. Try naming emotions in specific situations or encouraging your child to talk about feelings early on. 

You can also show your child calming strategies like deep breathing when upset. It’s a great way to teach children how to cope with setbacks on independently and increase emotional awareness of not only his/her own feelings, but others’ as well.

6. Offer activities that build independence

Some activities offer multiple opportunities for nurturing independence – and are also great chances for bonding or entertainment! 

Consider options like solo play or role-playing scenarios. Through them, children can explore challenges at their own pace while building confidence in their own choices. 

We actually do these at My Little Campus, from storytelling to supervised free play. Through these, we provide little ones options for strengthening independence while still engaging in meaningful exploration.

Allow us to nurture your child’s independence

Independence is a foundational life skill that you can foster in your child through key activities and routes. 

If you want further support with this, feel free to reach out to us. At our preschools, our nurturing teachers support children with building self-confidence and independence in tackling daily tasks.

In addition, we offer structured yet flexible environments where children can thrive independently while receiving guidance when needed. Let us support your child’s growth with our unique approach. Enquire today!