Encourage Your Children To Get Out Of Their Comfort Zone
Years ago the lifestyles of the population were more homogeneous and predictable. The common thing was to stay in the same job, the same city and the same social circle practically throughout life. However, today’s world is changeable and uncertain, and to be successful young people need to be able to adapt to change. Therefore, it is convenient to encourage your children to get out of their comfort zone from when they are small.
It might seem that these kinds of skills are not necessary at such a young age. However, it is during childhood that the foundations of the future personality are laid and all the experiences lived in these years can contribute to a child being more open and self-confident in the future. Thus, we present some keys that you can put into practice from now on.
How to encourage your children to get out of their comfort zone?
Boost your self-esteem and autonomy
The comfort zone includes all the people, habits, and situations that are familiar to us. They are not necessarily the best options or the ones that make us the happiest, but they are the ones we know about and, therefore, the ones that prevent us from having to venture to the risk of the unknown.
For a child to dare to leave his comfort zone, he must trust himself and his ability to cope. This is really the biggest difference between those who are more daring and those who tend to remain in the safety of the known. It is not that the former possess greater abilities, but they do have greater self-confidence.
For this reason, avoid overprotecting your children and enhance their autonomy from the time they are small. Encourage them to try all the daily activities for which they are prepared for themselves. Being able to eat alone, finishing a puzzle or helping to prepare coffee are simple tasks that will forge in them day by day the idea that they are capable of achieving new goals.
Keep a positive attitude towards change
On the other hand, it is essential to maintain a positive attitude towards change and transmit it to children. It is important that they do not perceive the new as a sacrifice, as something fearful and dangerous, but as an adventure and an opportunity. Stepping out of their comfort zone will allow them to meet new friends, discover fun activities, and have interesting experiences.
In addition, it is also necessary to check if there is a high degree of perfectionism, both in parents and children. To open up to new experiences, it is necessary to consider the error as something natural and that it helps to learn.
An excessive fear of ridicule or failure can keep children stuck, and the same is true if they perceive too rigid or high expectations on the part of their parents. Encourage them to try, fall and get up without fear.
Make it natural
It is not necessary to do anything extraordinary to help children to leave their comfort zone, it is enough to introduce small challenges and variations in their day to day and encourage them to accept different proposals and plans that arise. Trying out different sports and after-school classes, drawing with your left hand, or encouraging yourself to talk with classmates you don’t know much about are some simple alternatives.
Also, don’t forget to lead by example. We cannot ask our children to take risks, to dare if we do not. Open up to change with confidence and you will be a positive role model for the little ones.
The best experiences await you when you leave your comfort zone
A child who grows up trusting in himself and seeing new opportunities as adventures will be much better prepared to adapt to today’s world. Throughout your life you will have to face new environments, various projects and jobs and interact with a multitude of different people. For this reason, it is preferable to help him develop the personal resources to do so.
In order to face any change and take advantage of it, the only thing a minor needs is self-assurance. Knowing yourself capable of handling yourself in new situations and accepting the mistakes you may make. And childhood is the ideal time to train this confidence hand in hand with your parents.
