Resourcefulness is a vital skill we want to help our children develop. It is a critical skill that's useful in childhood, in school / homeschool, and in life.
The easiest way to facilitate your children is to give them less stuff because resourcefulness is born out of necessity.
Most children in the States have a lot of toys and while there's nothing inherently wrong with toys, too many will interfere with their ability to become resourceful people.
Something as simple as too many toys, can obstruct the development of the imagination, independence, creativity, sociability, and a host of other critical qualities and skills.
When you give children less, they have to work with what they have and figure out how to turn it into what they want. Isn't this something we often come up against in life?
The ability to move from a place we don't want to be into a place we long to be.
Whether it be a physical place, such as a new home or a new country; a professional place, such as a better job or an increase in income; or an emotional place such as more peace and equanimity in our lives, our ability to be resourceful allows us to move in directions that bring us more fulfillment and contentment.
How to Help Your Child Develop Resourcefulness
To help your children develop this skill, you need to be okay with letting them figure things out for themselves. Of course, this predicates an absence of technology in their lives. If you want to raise resourceful children, keeping them away from technology is a no-brainer.
By the way, Jonathan Haidt, who is a moral philosopher, has determined in his research that the epidemic of suicide, depression, and anxiety which we are seeing increase amongst our youth is not restricted to America or even the West.
It is universal and correlates perfectly with the introduction of technology in children's lives. Which means that we take a gamble on the emotional health and well-being of our children when we hand them a screen to keep them occupied.
Screens are not babysitters; they are mind-dumbing, heart-numbing devices.
On the contrary, the more you leave your child to use his mind to imagine what he wants from objects around the house such as brooms or boxes, the more resourceful he will become.
THE CREATIVITY FACTOR
Resourcefulness is predicated upon a strong imagination and a creative spirit which children who grow up in wholesome environments will naturally possess.
For example, if your daughter wants her own kitchen to cook in, refrain from buying her a ready-made toy kitchen. A child who has a strong imagination might ask you for a box or a sheet to create her own kitchen using her imagination.
Your first thought might be something like, "I don't want her to dirty a sheet!," but a dirty sheet is a small price to pay for the benefit your daughter will derive from it.
Another thought is that instead of buying a Lego toy with the items and directions to build a space station or what not for your son, give him a box of Legos and let him build his own space station by using his imagination.
Toy companies don't make new toys because they think it will benefit your child; they come up with new ideas to stay profitable.
But their profit is at the expense of our children. Children do not need a lot of toys. If you visit an historic home, you'll see that in the children's room there aren't a lot of toys. Usually what is there mimics real life too.
Maybe you'll see a horse or a wooden doll or a rocking horse, but you won't see much.
Children who whine and complain that they have nothing to do are children who have not learned how to take control and figure things out for themselves.
They fail to learn this because we mistakenly think it's our responsibility to help them find something to do or to help them do things.
Children will find the world a fascinating place and happily discover how to entertain themselves if we leave them to it.
Not only will this help them to become resourceful, but it also teaches them independence.
Let's not fall for this misguided trend that if we are not involved with our children 24/7, we're somehow a bad parent. On the contrary, you’re a wise parent.
As we want to avoid the "failure-to-launch" syndrome so many parents and grandparents are dealing with, encouraging our children towards independence and resourcefulness is key.
The more your child is left to figure things out for himself, the more imaginative, independent, and resourceful he will become— all vital qualities for a life well-spent.
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Elizabeth Y. Hanson is a homeschooling thought-leader and the founder of Smart Homeschooler.
As an Educator, Homeschool Emerita, Writer, and Love and Leadership Certified Parenting Coach, she has 21+ years of experience working in education.
Developing a comprehensive understanding of how to raise and educate a child, she devotes her time to helping parents get it right.
Elizabeth is available for one-on-one consultations as needed.
"I know Elizabeth Y. Hanson as a remarkably intelligent, highly sensitive woman with a moral nature and deep insight into differences between schooling and education. Elizabeth's mastery of current educational difficulties is a testimony to her comprehensive understanding of the competing worlds of schooling and education. She has a good heart and a good head. What more can I say?”
—John Taylor Gatto Distinguished educator, public speaker, and best-selling author of Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
