Teaching Children Values starts At Home
Values are linked to a person’s behavior and can be a source of great fulfillment and satisfaction. Hence the importance of teaching your children values. But how can we teach values in the most effective way?
What are values?
Values are the rules of conduct or principles that govern our behavior. They always correspond to what is considered correct. Values can help us choose one thing over another or help us decide how to behave. In this regard, it should be noted that there are different types of values. Ethical values are of great importance, as they are closely related to our behavior and rules and laws in a particular community.
When people are born, they are neither good nor evil, so we can conclude that parents and other adults in their children’s lives are the ones who must teach them values and behaviors – especially what to do and not to do, how to act and react and how to should live. Therefore, values must be taught to children from a very early age so that they can identify with them.
Teaching children values: The most important
- Kindness. It is about treating others in a respectful and helpful way, regardless of ethnicity or background. It has to do with impartiality.
- Respect. This means that you do not treat others badly, neither verbally nor physically. One must consider the dignity of people, regardless of nationality, language or culture.
- Obedience. It is about teaching a child the reason why it is important for him to do what you ask. A child needs to know what is expected of him or her.
- Tolerance. This means that you do not violate the rights or freedoms of others. One must accept diversity and difference.
- Not to give up. You should be consistent and steadfast when doing things, and never give up.
- Honesty. It is about being honest when faced with various problems, whether they arise in general or privately.
- Responsibility. It is about taking responsibility for one’s actions or decisions.
Why is it so important to teach children values?
Values are of great importance no matter what stage of life one is in because they affect one’s decision making. Therefore, they must be introduced from an early age in order to be adopted as living habits.
Teaching children values is difficult, but it’s worth it. It must start at home and then be strengthened in school. One of the keys when teaching children values and how to express them is not to punish them if they make mistakes, but rather to teach them by setting a good example.
How to teach children values?
Lead by example
Parents can not demand that their children are not selfish when the children, for example, notice that their parents show selfishness in certain aspects of life. Because children, when they are young, do not know what is right and wrong, parents have a fundamental role in teaching them that, and it must be they who give the children examples to follow. It is important that parents talk to their children and are consistent in what they say.
A good way to transfer values to children is to read stories where the main characters express positive attitudes. This makes the children want to imitate the constructive behavior of the individual.
Give support
Teaching values to children requires you to win the trust of your children. To do this, you must always offer them your support, so that when they encounter difficulties, they will turn to you for help.
Benefits of teaching children values
Some of the benefits of teaching children values are:
- Encourages their personal development and growth.
- Their morale develops.
- It leads to personal happiness.
- They learn to value the most important things in life.
- It helps them create a healthy self-confidence.
- It helps them to gradually establish future goals and start fulfilling them.
The role of parents in teaching children values
Good values enable people to become better individuals and be able to fulfill their own wishes. For that to be the case, parents must exercise authority over their children. In many cases, parents are afraid to force themselves on their children.
But this fear is unwarranted because children need guidance, and the loving authority of their parents is crucial to giving them good values and for them to become psychologically stable.
