Have you ever seen a building under construction? They often use large temporary structures, called scaffolding, that allow workers to reach heights until the structure of the building is secure enough. Much like building construction, we can use scaffolding to help children increase their knowledge over time.

Educators are familiar with the idea of scaffolding learning, an approach that progressively moves students towards a goal. As parents and caregivers now teaching at home, we can deploy this same strategy to a variety of areas.

Start small. Builders don’t expect to reach the top floor at the start of construction. Rather, they make sure the foundation and lower levels are secure before attempting to build up.

If your goal is that your child will be able to have a structured routine, but is currently having a hard time sticking to any structure at all, start small. Attempt to have one hour of structure and allow the child to take the lead the rest of the day. Then, once an hour of structure is mastered, work up to half a day. Give the child plenty of opportunities for unstructured time, but hold firm boundaries on the structured time.

If your goal is to use less screen time during the day, start small. Designate one hour of the day “screen free time”. Then gradually increase this window of time, while providing your child examples of other activities that can be done without a screen.

Whatever your goal, think of scaffolding. Picture yourself constructing the lower levels of a building to ensure they are nice and secure before any attempts of building higher levels.