10 Things Your 10-Year-Old Should Be Doing On Their Own

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10 year old

 

  1. Cut their own food:  Your child should be able to use a knife that can actually cut a chicken breast into bite size pieces and learn and use proper table manner. Who knows when your son might be invited for steaks on the grill with another family?
  1. Be in charge of their school work: 10 is not the age to spoon-feed every assignment or project. They should be doing most of their school stuff on their own (with limited parental guidance). 
  1. Take on some daily responsibilities: Pack their lunch, fill up their water bottle, lay out their clothes–you get the idea. At 10-years old, middle school is right around the corner. This is the age for building independence.
  1. Choose what they want to do with their free time: By 10, kids know what sports/activities they like and which they are just not interested in persuing. Follow their lead on this. Of course there is still time for new sports and activities to try, but by 10, kids have own interests and preferences.
  1. Solve friendship conflicts (well, at least some of them): 10-year olds have some of the tools to handle small tiffs on the playground. Yes, there will be some problems that need parental involvement. Strategize with kids and let them work through options for solving playground problems before you swoop in to the principal’s office with all the answers.
  1. Have some privacy: This is gray area but kids do need some small degree of privacy. Maybe it’s letting them call their friend and chat. Maybe it’s sending en email to a cousin. In small doses, and depending on how well you can trust your children, kids this age should have a little privacy.
  1. Establish their own “tastes”: Whether it’s picking out their Halloween costume, deciding on a birthday party venue, or making their Christmas lists, our little people have big ideas about who they are and what they like. (This Mommy is personally very sad that my 10-year-old prefers “Under Armour” to monogrammed whale polos)
  1. Chores: Clean bedrooms, empty trash, weeding, putting laundry away, sous-chef at dinner hour– or however it may look at your house, 10 is the right age to add more challenge to the chore chart.
  1. Spend & Save Money: Our house has a weekly allowance. Our son can decide to save for bigger items or spend it on little things that he wants today. His money, his choice.
  1. Debate & Discuss Current Events: Read books that make them ask more questions. At 10 kids can handle some real world news and should be able to ask questions on their own.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Should I keep pushing the issue with my bf about his 10 hr old daughter. She still draws stick figures, can’t ride a bike, only makes balls with play bough and says its marsh mellows every time, will not play with any activity craft boxes we buy, has no friends, won’t wipe herself right, lies all the time and the list goes on! She gets good grades but she’s also in a shorty school. He gets mad at me when I tell him something it wrong. Oh and also won’t give affection. She gives everyone her hair at the top of her head to kiss. Or she will grab a blankie and suck her humb to crawl into an infant position. I swear this isn’t normal. Please help.

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