Five Easy Ways to Teach Self-Accountability to Children

Teaching kids to be accountable for their actions can be a challenge, especially when they’re young. Nevertheless, it’s an important life skill that we must instill, as it will help them throughout their lives.

Here are some ways to promote self-accountability at home and in the classroom:

1. Help children set goals for themselves and hold them accountable for achieving them. Encourage them to keep track of their progress toward their goal each day, and praise them when they achieve it. If there are setbacks along the way of goal achievement, explain that these are opportunities for growth and learning so long as they use those lessons wisely in future projects.
2. Teach kids to accept responsibility for their actions. Explain that even if other people are doing wrong or encouraging them to misbehave, they still get to CHOOSE their behavior; and it is their responsibility to choose what they know to be right.
3. Teach children about delayed gratification. Not only does the ability to resist impulsive behavior help you to achieve long term goals, it is also a major key in learning how to exercise self-control.
4. Help children learn how to respond rather than react when faced with a big problem or disappointment in life. Remember, reactions are impulsive. Responses involve reason. When you respond reasonably, you’re exercising accountability for your behavior through self-regulation.
5. Introduce books into their home and school library that promote the concept of holding oneself accountable. This self to text connection can help them to associate these positive behaviors with themselves. A great book for this is I Am Because I Choose.

As the world grows increasingly less accountable by the day, so does the need to teach children self-accountability grows. There are few certainties in life, but one of those is that no matter how old you are, it’s important to hold yourself accountable for your decisions and their consequences. I hope that these tips helped!