![\"Balancing](\"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Balancing-Parenthood.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nOne of my former co-teachers from Oklahoma<\/a>\u00a0shared\u00a0this article<\/a> yesterday about letting children naturally develop their motor skills without teaching them or showing them how to sit, stand, walk, climb, etc. \u00a0And while this has always been my philosophy on the playground (yes, I’m the mom that sits on the bench and watches and the one that actually encourages my kids to go UP the slide<\/a>), it’s been harder for me when it comes to social and cognitive development.<\/p>\n I’ve always taken a “let them work it out themselves” approach to social development. \u00a0I encourage\u00a0them to answer questions posed by strangers, ask for things they want on their own and to interact with other kids at the park. \u00a0But I also don’t force them to interact if they’re not up for it.<\/p>\n And sometimes I have to intervene like when Doodle hit another little boy at the girls’ gymnastics class yesterday or when the girls get too wild and rough and they are headed towards someone getting hurt. \u00a0But what about instances like right now where Doodle is sitting by the bathroom door and Sugarplum is demanding potty privacy. \u00a0Do I need to intervene? \u00a0No one is going to get hurt and Sugarplum is just whining, no one is screaming. \u00a0But it’s been going for close to 5 minutes.<\/p>\n Then there’s out homeschooling. \u00a0My main goal has always been to develop autonomous, eager learners. \u00a0I want my children to love learning and be responsible for completing their work.<\/p>\n But they’re not there yet and I constantly have to remind them it’s a school day or that they haven’t finished their work for the week. \u00a0And it becomes exhausting. \u00a0At what point do I just give up on the nagging and let them not do their work?<\/p>\n I love the idea of “unschooling” and letting kids learn what they want when they want but I’m also not convinced it would work for our family and getting my children where I want them to go in life. \u00a0So I remind them of what they need to do and encourage them to work independently and choose to do school on their own but they often need my prodding to get it done.<\/p>\n But where I’ve struggled the most lately is with teaching them new concepts and skills. \u00a0Sugarplum has come a long way with reading but is very stubborn about reading with me. \u00a0She will rarely read to me and even when I convince her to, she often refuses to try to sound out words that I know she can figure out. \u00a0So sometimes I “help” her with the letter sounds (even though she is more than capable of doing it herself) and she\u00a0still\u00a0<\/em>sometimes won’t say the word even when I’m 99% sure she’s figured it out.<\/p>\n