Preparation is huge—whether we are preparing for a busy weekend, studying for a test, or preparing ourselves for a job interview, as adults we know that preparation can mean the difference between success and failure. As parents, we can incorporate preparation into how we teach and guide our children. Instead of trying to deal with things after the fact, it might be worth our while to ask ourselves what we can do to help prepare our children in advance.
I found with my children that the more factual and helpful information I could give them before something happened, the better they did with it. Whether it was for a trip to the doctor’s office or the first day of school, or even a trip to grandma’s house, if I could give them a time table and let them know not only what was going to happen, but also what was going to be expected of them—they did better all around. While we cannot predict the future and guarantee that everything will go as we anticipate, we can teach our children how to prepare and be ready.
Letting our kids know what to expect is one part of preparedness, the other part is teaching them how to anticipate problems and situations so that they can prepare for themselves. Asking them to think things through in advance: “What do you think you need for your soccer game today?” or “What will you need for the field trip?” and then helping them organize both their thinking and their items in order to prepare teaches them valuable skills for preparedness.
Life comes at us relentlessly with a lot of change and unpredictability, but an important part of developing resiliency is learning how to do whatever we can to prepare ourselves in advance. We are giving our children a great gift if we can teach them some of those skills so that they can learn how to prepare them for whatever may come.
See Also: The Be Prepared Blog