"Mummy do it"

[ItNeverRainsBut]

How much do you encourage your toddler/young child to have a go at things they can't do right away? DD (3.3) is very quick to ask for my help to do things, e.g. fitting jigsaw pieces together or pulling on her socks. I don't mind doing those things for her per se, but feel it would better for her to persevere and therefore have the satisfaction of being able to do them herself. And presumably the more she tries the more practice she gets and the sooner she'll master them. So when she asks I usually say "you try first" or something like that, but often she just gets more and more insistent that "mummy do it!" and if I don't, gets really upset.

How do I encourage her without it ending in tears?

[displayuntilbestbefore]

I've had this with my dcs. I don't have a magic answer but I found that if ds insisted on me doing it, I would make it into a game or see if he could do it (say, putting clothes on, putting jigsaw pieces down) in the time it takes me to wash up/put the ironing away etc
I wouldn't worry about it really as she's likely to do it herself before long anyway.

[shortie3]

My DS has this habit of saying this when he is supposed to take his shoes off or fetching his blanket (he is 2.5). I normally do this with him, so that he is knows I won't do everything for him.

He also sometimes does it when tidying up or ignores me, so we leave it for awhile and then try again. They are just testing the boundaries and DS will have normally done it if I am not in the same room, e.g kitchen etc