It’s a bright, sunny Saturday afternoon in June, and you’ve headed to the local park with your 3-year-old. You’ve brought a picnic with you, and are thoroughly looking forward to kicking back, enjoying some good food, and spending quality time with your little one.

After setting up the picnic blanket and food, you let your child go and play in the sandpit just a few metres away, well within your eye line.

After they’ve been playing for a few minutes, you realise that you’re finding it hard to relax. Every time you hear a child scream or cry, you look over anxiously, prepare to run over, and feel a twinge of panic in your heart.

Parents, we know it’s hard for you to transition from managing your child’s every move to giving them a little more freedom. However, for the sake of our child’s independence, we need to learn to do this, despite our protective instincts. This means learning to move from supervising to sittervising!

But what is sittervising?

What is sittervising?

Sittervise (sit-er-vise) verb - To supervise from a seated position.

Although sittervising may sound like a strange word, many parents consider it the absolute pinnacle of parenting!

To sittervise a child means to give them the freedom to discover, to assess risk, and to find out what works for them, while still keeping an eye on them and making sure they are safe. It’s making the decision to be on standby while your child plays, without jumping to attention at every movement they make.

Why is it important to move from supervising to sittervising?

As parents, ensuring our children are safe and sound is our number one priority - and so it should be! However, there comes a point where we need to take a slight step back and to sittervise instead of supervise.

Learning to sittervise means that we are consciously teaching our child to stand on their own two feet, become independent and gain some confidence as they grow.

If we are constantly on standby, hovering and waiting for something bad to happen, then our little ones won’t have the space to learn how to become self-sufficient; a skill that is necessary for them to grow into responsible, independent adults.

Now that we’ve looked at why it’s so important to make this shift, let’s look into ways in which you can do this!

How can I move from supervising to sittervising?

Remember that this is for the good of your child and their future. Learning to manage life on one's own is a process and a process that should be started during the first few years of a child’s life. When making the shift from supervising to sittervising, remember that this will highly benefit your child as they grow into an independent little person.

Try to balance your view of sittervising in your mind. Although trying out sittervising for the first time might be scary, try to make a conscious decision to become more comfortable with this shift in your head. After all, it’s a chance for you to watch your child play, while trusting them to have a little more independence in their own lives, too.

Remember that real learning happens through making mistakes. As parents, all we want to do is shield our children from harm. However, remember that your children need to make their own mistakes in order to learn, just like you did! Take into account that there will be a time when they will have to cope completely on their own without you when they themselves become adults.

Do sittervising the smart way. As great as sittervising is, it should be done the ‘smart’ way. This means still making sure an area is safe for your child before letting them play in it. Always be present, alert, and use your good judgement - along with slightly stepping back!

How do I move from supervising to sittervising?

Learning to sittervise means that we are consciously teaching our child to stand on their own two feet, says Unii.