But it can also be a great lesson for your child. It is much safer for your child to learn that in middle school than in a few years when she’s on her own.

Help your child learn from mistakes by:

• Putting her in charge. Are you always the one who sets her baby-sitting schedules and makes sure she gets to her jobs? Make it her responsibility to schedule her own hours and arrange for transportation.
• Allowing the scene to play itself out. If everything goes well, great. But if not, let her experience the consequences. For example, if your child cancels a baby-sitting job because she forgot she had a school program, she may lose the chance to baby-sit for the family again.
• Giving her a kind word and the chance to try again. Say, “It’s hard when things like this happen.” Let it go at that. Solving the problem for her tells her you don’t think she can learn to resolve problems herself. With enough practice, she will.

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