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What are self-help skills and why is it so important?
Self-help skills are abilities that children gradually attain to give them more independence. These include, but are not limited to getting dressed, brushing teeth, toileting, self-feeding, and tidying up after themselves. Self-help skills are the everyday tasks undertaken so our tamariki can participate in life activities. At BestStart Glenfield, our Kaiako prioritise growing the self-help skills of our tamariki from an early age.
Why? We believe that it is important that our tamariki acquire these skills because being independent will boost their agency, and self-esteem and eventually increase their capacity to face difficult situations with confidence. After connecting with our local schools, we have also found out that many self-help skills act as precursors for many school-related tasks as well as life skills. Here at BestStart Glenfield, we provide opportunities for our tamariki to self-serve their kai for every meal time and put away their food scraps and dirty crockery afterward. We also encourage them to be responsible and look after their belongings, dress themselves, and look after themselves by washing their own hands, we supervise our tamariki to apply sunblocks by themselves during the summer months and encourage them to be active participants in our daily routines.
Through these learning opportunities, our tamariki are empowered to grow their well-being as they experience an environment where their health is promoted and our tamariki will continue to become capable of keeping themselves healthy and caring for themselves (Te Whariki, 2017).