Everything You Need To Know About Scaffold Parenting

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We live in a day and age where there are plenty of different parenting styles. Almost everyday a new one pops up for parents who have a harder time fitting into one category. However, scaffold parenting is not a new concept. It isn’t even an idea that requires you to change or replace your personal parenting style. Derived from the work of psychologist Lev Vygotsky, from the early 1900s, scaffolding is defined as a learning process that provides helpful tools when trying to understand and implement the authoritative parenting style, or as it is better known these days, the gentle parenting style.

Scaffolding is when an adult, usually the caregiver, helps a child complete a task that they couldn’t do on their own. This requires situational wisdom to gauge when to intervene and when to allow the child to figure things out on their own. Scaffolding parenting is a helpful module to follow, as it allows children to learn from their mistakes in a safe environment where they are not afraid to ask for help if they fail. If you’d like to know more about scaffold parenting, we are here to outline its 5 main characteristics!

In This Article

1. Empathy

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Learning from their mistakes must be a constructive process for your kids. And, in order to make it so, it’s important to show your little ones that they don’t suffer alone and that you are there to support them. You want your kid to know that you understand their perspective and still care about them when they fail. This teaches them that it’s okay to make mistakes and that their parents will have their back no matter what. An empathetic parent communicates with their child when things get tough and does not abandon them. There is encouragement and confidence in knowing that we can do hard things together. Challenges won’t seem as daunting and scary to your child anymore.

2. Validation

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Attempting to give your kids their own space, autonomy and freedom is always a tricky one for parents. On one hand you want them to have the chance to figure out who they are as people, but on the other hand all you can think about is everything that might go wrong without your supervision. But this is a perfectly normal response! However, you do need to entertain the fact that your kids are not going to make serious mistakes every time they are left to their own devices. In fact, most of the time they will probably be perfectly fine and might even experience success. In these cases, it is imperative that you validate their victories however small they may be. Show your kid that you enjoy their success and support their efforts.

3. Intervention

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Kids have limitations and might sometimes struggle to break barriers. In this case, scaffold parenting suggests that you intervene. Instead of jumping in immediately to fix the situation for your child, join in as a collaborator and help them learn alongside you. Help your child reflect on the issue and problem-solve with you. Interventions can also teach your kids how to stay calm in overwhelming and frustrating situations. And will lead to your child asking people to assist them with a task instead of expecting them to fix their problems for them.

4. Structure

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Every child needs an environment with structure so that they have a sense of security and safety to make mistakes, learn and thrive. The reason for creating a schedule is to encourage your child to be independent within it and experience autonomy within a safe structure. Besides, establishing a daily rhythm can help tremendously in lowering your child’s anxiety and teaches them how to live orderly lives.

5. Encouragement

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Everyone needs a cheerleader to help them bounce back after a bad day or facing something challenging and failing at a task. Expressing your belief in your kids even when they fail will help them build confidence when they don’t believe in themselves. Instead of telling your child generic lines or giving out general encouragement, describe what traits they exhibited that you particularly liked and what they can do in the future to succeed. Doing so will show your kids that you truly care about them and that you are paying attention to them.

Scaffold parenting is simply a tool that can help you build a better and healthier bond with your child. We hope you find ways to implement these main principles in your own parenting style and reap the benefits.