I think a lot of times kids will let you know what they are/are not ready for. There are things that we feel DS10 might be ready to start doing on his own, but if he's very hesitant for some reason, we usually wait because he's not ready. And then there are things that he's really excited about taking responsibility for and doing - weekly cleaning of his bathroom comes to mind, although now he's figured out why I was all too ready to turn that one over to him
. I showed him how to properly clean the bathroom, supervised a few times, and now he
tries to put off doing does it all on his own. Sometimes I need to point out something missed, but overall he does a great job and *was* excited (not so much anymore
) to have the responsibility.
Anytime DS asks to do something on his own, we evaluate the safety of said something, whether or not he's mature enough, and what can be learned/gained from it, and then we make our decision. Sometimes, the answer is no. Sometimes, it's modified to with supervision, and then sometimes it's "Sure, go ahead. You'll do great!" So far, this has worked well for us.
