Teaching young children to look after themselves

Imagine the scene. t's a Monday morning. You are running late. It's time to go and your three-year-old has only managed to put on one shoe. The problem is that your child is in a perpetual state of slow motion. You grab his coat. So what happens next?

The odds are that you will become your child's valet. It's quicker and, of course, less hassle. And it's probably the right thing to do as a 'one-off'. The difficulty comes when parents get into the habit of being their child's personal servant - an easy trap to fall into and one that, as we will see, does not actually help children in the long run. So how much should children be doing and how does this benefit them?

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