Every parent’s main goal is to help his or her children on the road to being independent. My daughter is 16 months old and I get amazed on how fast she grows and how much she is learning.
Observing her especially in my first hour every morning leads me to see how she wants to try things on her own. She started requesting to feed herself months ago, now she brushes her teeth (toothbrush & water), and lately the list of things she wants to do on her own is endless.
The Main Goal
This past march when I went to SXSWi I had the opportunity to meet Aaron Manley from @motorphilia. I first heard of Aaron when @chrisbrogan wrote “Buy a Car Off The Internet”. Since then I have been reading the awesome content and stories Aaron shares online. I had the opportunity to spend an hour with Aaron and it was an enlightening experience on how Aaron sees life. Aaron is an extremely positive guy and since I met him I have been working on seeing the positive side of many aspects in my life.
Key Take Away
Talking with Aaron there was one specific lesson that I took away from the conversation. I remember Aaron mentioned that his goal in life is to be able to see and make his kid become independent. In his words he feels he did his job when his son is ready for the many challenges in life.
Early Signs of Independence
As my daughter continues to learn and become more independent I see that little by little she is telling me to back off. There are moments where she is telling me in her own way Dad I got this. I recently experienced it with an iPad app she enjoys which is called Wood Puzzle. Thanks to Mommy Beta’s review and a recommendation from the folks of Daddy On Board it is the IOS app that I have gotten the most parenting value from yet.
The objective of the Wood Puzzle First Years for iPad is to place shapes into corresponding slots. My daughter does a good job with placing many of the items with a few other I give her a hand. On most occasions when I try to help her she brushes my hands of the screen and continues the attempts.
Babies and children have a unique way to focus on something and accomplish the task at hand; so stopping them might not be the best idea.
In my case I will continue to motivate Daniela in trying her best at the iPad app which will hopefully lead to other things in the future when Daniela says “Dad don’t worry I got this”.