The right time when parents give their children to make decisions.

Teach the children to make decisions while they are young, so that they will learn to make good decisions in the future. Decision making is a skill that everybody must acquire, so it would be beneficial to create situations that will enhance the child's decision making capability. So when they grow up, they are more capable of coping up difficult situations, our role is to guide them.

My thought is that from the time that a child is able to make independent thoughts, then they should be allowed to start making their own decisions to a certain degree. I don't think that they should be allowed to make independent decisions initially, but I believe that the process of working with your children to make decisions from a young age will mean that they are more likely to make good decisions when they are old enough to make their own independent decisions.

Letting a small child make their own decisions to a certain point and with guidance teaches them to make better decisions when they get older. Let them start with making the decision about what to wear and guide them let them know your reasoning behind if you agree or not agree. When punishing let them know what the punishment is for a certain act and tell them if they make the decision to do this act then they are also making the decision to get the punishment. When my son got in 5th grade the rule was homework first then chores then play well one day he came to me and asked me if he could do his home work when he wanted to. I thought about it and told him ok but ifyour grades drop we will go back to the old way and he will be restricted for 2 weeks till he brought the grades back up. Restricted ment doing nothing but school work and chores for 2 weeks. No tv no video games no friends etc. He knew the punishment and now he is a college graduate. Let them be able to grow. They have to make their own decisions. They need to know that something bad will happen if they make bad decisions. If they do not learn this when they are young they will not be able to do this when they get on their own.

Hi motioneye! By teens they should have lots of opportunities to make their own decision. But as long as their parents feel that they are not able to decide on their own that's where parents intervene by deciding for them. It's a delicate balance of how much to give and how much not. Parents normally have to face this dilemma. Whatever they do is usually for the wellbeing of their kids at heart. I'm not saying that all teens don't and all parents do. It's just what and when. It's a push-pull.

I have to agree with everyone else. If you let your child make some decisions on his own while he is a child he will be able to make better ones when he's a teen and when he's an adult. I let my son decide some things for himself and there are times when I know he's going to regret it, like not wearing a jacket when it's chilly, but how else will he learn?