How to Make Sure Your Children Learn the Right Values

One thing that parents worry about the most from the moment their children are born is what kind of person their children will grow into. Will they be model citizens? Criminals? Well liked? Or disliked? A lot depends on the values that parents choose to instill in their children.

How to make sure your children learn the right values #1 It's never too early to start reading

It is never too early to start instilling the right values in your children. Some expectant mothers even read to their children when they are still in the womb. They then carry on doing this after their baby is born. Of course, a baby will not be able to understand the book, the words or much else for quite some time. But it is a good foundation and as the baby becomes familiar with his mother's voice, it can help to build a precious bond between the mother and baby. Fathers can also share in reading to their babies as well. Studies show that children who have a strong bond with their parents are less likely to commit crimes, and they tend to do better in school.

How to make sure your children learn the right values #2 Teach respect for you and for others

Children with the right values will be respectful, kind and polite to other people. This is something that can be taught in the home. If you have one child, they need to be taught to respect their mother and father first of all. Train them to address you politely and not to demand their own way all the time. For example, if your child wants to go out with his friends, he must put away his toys or tidy his bedroom first. A child who respects his parents, will not argue about this, but will comply with any reasonable request his parents make. Children can be trained to show respect for their parents, even if they are obstinate. Parents must follow through with a polite request with what will happen if the child does not listen. Empty threats will lose, rather than gain, a child's respect.

How to make sure your children learn the right values #3 Lead by example

It is not easy to train a child to do as you say, if you persist in hypocritically telling them what they should do, but then doing the opposite yourself. Racism and swearing are issues that parents can help their children to avoid, by making sure such sentiments do not take root in the first place. But to be successful, parents must feel an abhorrence of racism and swearing. Parents will show through their actions who their friends are, how they talk to and treat people of other races and what they complain about the most. Do they use derogatory language when talking about ethnic minorities? Do they blame "foreigners" for crime in their locality? Even if they do not actually use swear words in front of them, children can pick up how their parents really feel. I have known young children who would treat people of other races with great disrespect and hatred, using terms to describe people that they could have only heard and repeated, as they were very young to have formed such an obscene vocabulary. Next time you hear a five year old swearing, rather than blaming the child, ask yourself how the child could have learned such words. If we can successfully teach our children how to talk and use every day language, they can also be taught, albeit indirectly, to swear and express racist opinions that they have heard.

How to make sure your children learn the right values #4 Learning a strong work ethic

Many children are under the impression that the world owes them a living and that they should not have to work hard to get what they want in life. Waiting until your child turns 18 is not the right time to teach them the value of hard work. Start when the child is still quite young. Even very young children can help their parents carry out some light household chores. In return, the parents can then give their child a small allowance or buy them a gift. As the child gets older, they can teach their child more about how to make a living. Rather than buying them everything they want, parents can encourage them to get a part-time job or to save. If a child really wants something badly enough, they will work hard to get what they want. The value of what they earn will mean more to them, than if they had been handed their request on a silver platter.

How to make sure your children learn the right values #5 Learning to become self-sufficient

Children are taught a very valuable lesson if their parents strive to help them become more self-sufficient. It is linked with learning a strong work ethic, because it helps a child develop to meet their goals on their own. Children can do this by learning to prepare meals for themselves and for others in the family, doing their own laundry and they can keep their bedrooms tidy. Doing these things will teach them the value of self-sufficiency, which will be a good foundation for them as they grow up and move into their own home.

These are just a few of the basic values that parents can teach their children at home. I cannot stress this enough, but the sooner you start to train your child, the sooner you will be able to instill the correct values in them. If parents are negligent in properly training their children, someone else will teach their children, and that person will invariably have a different value system to the parents.