Independence begins very early in life. When a baby can hold their own bottle, but it makes you feel cozy and closer to hold it, you are already impeding on their right to be independent, in my opinion. When they can crawl around the room and get their toys, but you put them all in a pile to make it easier for them, you are taking away their ability to reason and think about how to get from here to there, and how many toys can they hold at once, etc. It's hard to think so far ahead when they are such little beings, but one day, they are going to go out into the world to be on their own. Will you have taught them all they need to know? If things happen they do not know about, will the concepts and beliefs you have made them aware of, help them figure out those things? You better hope.


