Help Me To Do It Myself! Nose Blowing

It’s easy to focus on the importance of helping your preschooler grow academically ... answering their questions, doing puzzles with them or reading books. But it also important to help your toddler or preschooler build a foundation of basic life skills. 

Based on the key Montessori principle that children learn best through active experience we base many of our activities on the idea of  "Teach Me to Do It Myself".  Since this is an age of strong imitation, we constantly model appropriate social skills, good manners and consideration of others. 

You will find the time spent teaching your child how to do something independently will improve your child’s initiative, self-confidence, concentration, and coordination. Teaching children to be independent will also save time for you and make your family happier in the long run. Self-help skills are simplest ways to begin help your child do things independently.

In school we....

1. Demonstrate how to do a task, breaking it task down into distinct steps.

2. Find points of interest.

3. Have a control of error (a way of providing instant feedback).

4. Let the child practice the task.

This method can be used to teach anything from getting dressed, washing hands and (our current focus for most children) blowing their nose!

A Lesson on Nose Blowing

You see that your child's nose is runny. Rather than taking a tissue and wiping their nose, you could use this as a time to help them to learn to "do it myself" and in turn improve your child’s independence and self-respect. Simply say: “Let me show you how to blow your nose.” 

Then, while your child watches . . .

1. Get a tissue or baby wipe.

2. Fold the tissue in half.(little ones tend to want to wad it up and smear across their face)

3. Cover your nose with the tissue.

4. Demonstrate how to blow your nose. You could say, “See how I blow my nose gently.”

5. Wipe your nose carefully to be sure your nose and face are clean.

6. Throw the tissue or wipe in the waste basket.

7. Invite your child to practice blowing his or her nose.

8. You can then wash your hands together. (another lesson)

It may take many demonstrations and reminders of the steps to efficiently blow their nose but the time spent will pay off quickly as they become more independent. Keeping a box of boogie wipes and a trash can in a place where they can reach and access independently will also help the process.