nce other famous names such as Henry Thoreau and Walt Whitman (IEP, 2019). Self-Reliance contains Emerson's beliefs and perspectives on how society negatively impacts our growth. He argues strongly t

2019). 3. Scheduling Routine Tasks Tomlin suggests parents and educators start small and work their way up gradually. That is, an adult can make the child a timetable for chores that they are expected to complete. Kids can check these off as they complete them or put a star beside the task. Over time, these chores will adapt to suit a kids level of development, but they can start simple, like feeding a pet or cleaning their play area. 4. Managing Their Time This builds on the previous skill. As they grow, kids can learn to start doing the timetabling for themselves. A nice exercise for this is included in the next section on Self-Reliance Activities for Youth. 5. Developing Independent Thought Giving kids options allows them to think and choose for themselves. This is the first step toward independent thought at a much higher level later on. 6. Making Friends Emerson described the joy of friendship as (1967): "the spiritual inspiration that comes...when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship". As kids make friends, they learn to build up positive images of themselves while expressing care and empathy for their peers. 7. Completing What They Begin When the initial fun wears off, the temptation to just walk away from an activity is pretty familiar to most of us. This is despite the fact that perseverance can often lead to incredibly rewarding and intrinsically motivating results. Teaching kids to complete small tasks that they get started on is a good way to help them develop self-knowledge, self-discipline, and pursue larger goals (Locke & Latham, 1990). 8. Tidying Up After Themselves Such a basic self-reliance skill that most of us probably can't recall when or where we learned it the first time around. For preschoolers, it provides a sense of stability and predictability-but more importantly, a means for achieving it. This can be valuable for dealing with turmoil or adversity in more serious scenarios. 9. Asking for help In order to learn, and to eventually make rational, individual decisions, kids shouldn't be afraid to reach out for help when they need it. Being comfortable with yourself, as Emerson argued, is a key part of being self-reliant (Emerson, 1967). Even if that means asking others for guidance or clarification (Warburton, 2016). In another look at self-reliance in children, Prime Performance Psychologist Dr. Jim Tayloroffers up some broader categories for self-reliance skills in kids (Taylor, 2018): 1. Cognitive Skills – gathering and rationally analyzing information to solve problems and make decisions; 2. Emotional Skills – Managing emotions responsibly. This is very similar to the Emotional Intelligence concept of Emotional Regulation, and applies to our social interactions with others; 3. Behavioral Skills – These include working and studying, though at the preschool level they will still be relevant at a much, much simpler level; 4. Interpersonal Skills – Making friends, communicating, and related skills; 5. Practical Skills – Here, Taylor describes activities in everyday life, just like the chores suggested by Tomlin above. For preschoolers, this could mean tidying up their toys, feeding a pet, or similar. In this next part, some more specific activities and PDFs that will hopefully give a better sense of how both preschoolers and older kids can develop self-reliance. 3 Self-Reliance Activities for Youth (PDF) If you're a teacher, parent, or are involved in youth work, here are three activities (as PDFs) that you can easily download and use as resources. There are a few different elements of self-reliance within these, including simple practical tasks that younger ones can easily get a hold of. 1. I am and I can This one's a group activity that's best suited for younger children of about KS1 or KS2. The underpinning theory of this exercise is that kids can develop a sense of their own competence by learning to identify their own strengths as a person. These can include unique capabilities, talents, and characteristics-once kids become aware of these, they can tune into these positive aspects in difficult situations. You will need some large pieces of paper, drawing materials, and some space for the group. Start by inviting the kids to think of things that they can do well, and which make them feel good about that ability. For example, this could be running really fast or able to pick out different types of birds. You can then play a round of 'I am good at...', in which kids take turns to chat about these things by finishing the sentence. If you find that one or more children don't feel they can respond, ask another kid to step in with something they believe that person does well. Then, talk about how learning is a lifelong activity-it's something we never stop doing and we are always learning new skills. You can use this opportunity to go back over the things they've just said, which they didn't have a few years ago. Share one of your own learning experiences and note any difficulties you encountered, but end with how satisfying it was to finally learn that skill. End with a group round of 'I can...', giving the children a chance to re-affirm their beliefs in their strengths. Kids can then break into smaller groups. In these, one child will lie on a piece of paper while the others draw around him or her, creating a body outline. Get the rest of the children to 'decorate' this body shape by drawing all the talents and skills they can see in that child. The final touch is that each group member can write a positive statement of encouragement and put it by the body outline. These completed 'body shapes' are good to hang around the classroom, so kids can see them every day. 2. Getting Organized Another great self-reliance activity for children of writing age is getting them to schedule their own time. This is a simplified exercise centered on individualism and personal responsibility, two of Emerson's key foci. Of course, you can flexibly adapt the difficulty and independence level of the timetabling approach to suit a certain young person's particular needs and their level of development. It's as simple as asking them to create their own timetable for reaching their weekly, monthly, annual, or long-term goals. Children can use this activity to learn that getting there in the future means organizing now. They can also get affirmation about their achievements by logging when they accomplish a certain task or goal. Headings that you may find useful for a timetable include: Subject – Kids can write the theme of their goal, and you can use homework as one idea, or broader life goals as another. Assignment/Responsibility – Another possibility is 'Change I want to Make', although this would ideally accompany another category encompassing 'Steps I can take to make the change' (Polk Mentoring Alliance, 2008: 18). Due Date; and Completed – Where the child can have a visible reminder of their accomplishments. 3. Personal Mission Statement The PDF we just introduced in the last exercise also has some resources for children to create their own personal mission statements. However, we thought it would be nice to provide a template that teenagers and older children might be able to benefit from. Personal Mission Statements also ask a young person to think about who they are, what they represent, what they want to accomplish, and why. They encourage self-reliance by inviting the writer to look inside themselves and seek their own values and beliefs. This resource is more of a framework than a template, and it asks the young person to answer three questions so they can craft their own statement:Outline your perfect day with unlimited resources. Describe as much as you can about your passions and interests.Imagine you're happily surrounded by your family at the age of 150. What would you tell them about the most important things in life?Pretend it's a significant milestone at a later stage in life; maybe you've turned 30, 50, or 80. The press asks you to summarize your accomplishments and think about what you'd hope your colleagues, peers, and family to say when discussing you. How would you like to have made a difference in their lives? The next part is for the writer to review the answers to these questions. The idea is that these should give them valuable help to answer the questions above. That is, as noted above: who they are, what they represent, what they want to accomplish, and why. This PDF from Humboldt State University is the outline for the exercise in its full form. The Self-Reliance Scale So how is self-reliance measured? One assessment sometimes used by therapists and teachers is called the Self-Reliance Scale. The Self-Reliance Scale (SRS) is one measure in the Behavior Assessment System for Children(BASC-3) (Sandoval & Echandia, 1994). The BASC-3 itself is a tool for assessing whether school-age children of 3 to 18 years old may require extra support for their emotional and behavioral