8 Ways to Help Kids Develop Patience in an Impatient World

Last updated on: September 10, 2018 at 2:46 pm by Sarah Hamaker

8 Ways to Help Kids Develop Patience in an Impatient World 2018-08-30T14:53:00+00:00 Sarah Hamaker

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Encourage hobbies. “Teach children hobbies that rely on patience,” said Paschal. For example, plant seeds, then wait for them to grow. Mix cookie dough, then wait for the cookies to bake. “Show your children the good things that can come to those who wait!”

When doing projects that require periods of waiting—for something to bake or paint to dry—“instead of doing something in between stages, you can talk and tell stories and be with one another,” said Simens.

Free-Photos/Pixabay

Let them daydream. When your child’s staring off into space, don’t interrupt him! Let kids daydream. “Visualization is an active way to work on developing patience. Nighttime visualizations before bed with stories can be very helpful for this,” said Bates. For more ideas on daydreaming, read “8 Reasons to Encourage Your Child’s Daydreaming.”

Build in boredom. Sure, the kids will whine when they have nothing to do, but if you leave them alone with their thoughts, they will soon figure out how to occupy their time. When my children were younger, I often shooed them outside in the summer against their wishes (“There’s nothing to DO outside!!”) and set a kitchen timer for 30 minutes. When the timer went off, they could come back inside. But more often than not, when the timer dinged, they had overcome their boredom and were happily playing.

“If a parent values the time that is spent doing nothing, it can rub off on the child,” Simens said. “When life gives you times to be annoyed, turn it into something positive by having your child be part of the waiting cycle.”

To connect with me and read more about raising kids, visit www.sarahhamaker.com.

Some Assembly Required

Previous Post

September 7, 2018

The Punctual Child

Next Post

September 14, 2018 How to Prepare Kids for a Natural Disaster

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Article blog Gallery Guest blog Interview Question and answer video

Select a Month November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz