Children Are What We Make Them
Our children have been taught to identify classical music from inside the womb and now at ages 5 and 3 are able to identify the differences between 'Minuet by Bach' and 'Minuet by Beethoven'. What made this little experiment of my husband's so interesting, is that we are a black family and stereotypically our children should know all about rap music and MTV.
However, I have a philosophy and I see it portrayed every time we introduce them to something new. You see, children are born like blank computers and we get the opportunity to load the programs. Now, that is a serious and very important job. As parents, grandparents, teachers and relatives, we must be very careful. It is not always what we say to our kids that teach them how to react to people and situations. It is mostly how we ourselves react to things that reinforce their behavior.
My 5 year old daughter will make the strangest comments before I realize that she is taking her cues from my behavior and not always from my words. Children are taught how to love and they are taught how to hate. They are taught to be neat and they are taught to be messy. How do they really learn these things? They watch what we do and try to emulate the behavior.
Children do not learn what we do not teach them. The onus is on parents, teachers, aunts, uncles, grandparents and all adults in general to influence the lives of those who will make up the next generation.
Published by Nova Rose
Nova is a wife and mother of 2 young kids living in sunny South Florida. In her spare time, Nova loves to write about what is going on around her. View profile
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9 Comments
Post a CommentGreat article and so true.
Good article Nova! Children love to learn by example and parents are their #1 role models. I remember attempting not to say swear words around my kids, they grew us rarely cursing (at least around me). I always said "I knew they didn't learn it from me". Now when I say one of those forbidden words, I am admonished by my 21 yo and 30 yo sons.
I totally agree:)
So true!
Amen to this, sister!!!! When parents allow their kids to buy dolls that look like strippers (the Pussycat Dolls now have a Barbie-like doll out which is selling quite well), and thong underwear at Victoria's Secret, they can't blame stuff on society. A funny but sad story: A teacher friend of mine had to call a mother to school because her 11 year old daughter had come to class wearing a midriff-bearing halter top, belly button adornment and ripped off shorts (all against that school's standards). The mother walked in wearing a midriff-bearing halter top, belly button adornment and ripped off shorts.
Great points. Great article.
You made some really good points here, Nova! I've always said kids are little tape recorders. They just soak up everything, even the things they shouldn't hear or see!
Excellent article! Not only do we have to watch our words, but what we do. Kids are great at parroting.
I couldn't have said this better myself. I have also noticed these things in my kids.