Whether it’s joining a club, a team or exploring other extracurricular activities, your kids can learn valuable life lessons and gain self-confidence when they step out of their comfort zones.

These experiences can be fun for your kids and are important for their long-term development. Use these tips to show your support and encourage your children to give new things a try:

1. Follow their passions.

If your children express interest or have passion to try a new sport, activity or club, consider the options available. If it’s safe and feasible to move forward, be supportive and respectful of their newfound pursuit. Pay attention to what they like in order to show them that their interests matter to you.

2. Focus on their strengths.

If your children are on the fence about trying something new, remind them of a time they successfully worked through a scenario and how they did it. Whether it’s personality traits or physical abilities, these reminders of their strengths can be encouraging.

3. Make sure you’re not putting unnecessary pressure on your kids.

It’s natural to feel excited and share photos and videos of your child’s first experiences, but it can be a negative distraction that makes them feel vulnerable and uncomfortable.  By knowing and respecting their boundaries, you can give your kids space to gain independence and confidence at their own pace.

4 Look at their new experiences as opportunities to learn.

Use new experiences as opportunities to talk with your kids about the takeaways. This also gives you a chance to learn what they do and don’t like.  Your support through these experiences can help your children learn how to be responsible, solve problems and make independent decisions.

Continue to support your children in new experiences with more tips found our Parenting Approach page.