Moral Guidance

Imparting morals & values to your kids

One of the main concerns for parents is to ensure a healthy upbringing of their child. Children form impressions of their surroundings at a very early age, and these impressions play an important part in shaping their personalities.

All parents want their children to grow up into compassionate, honest and respectful human beings. To ensure this, parents need to start imparting healthy morals and values to their children from an early age.

The importance of parents teaching morals and values to their young children has seen a significant increase in today’s society, where children are exposed to a number of positive and negative stimuli from a very young age.

Children begin to form their first impressions during infancy, so it is important for parents to step forward with moral guidance as early as possible. While at first children may not understand the difference between right and wrong, a reward-punishment approach can be followed to introduce them to the idea of repercussion.

The reward-punishment approach teaches your children about acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, and rewards them when they comply to your moral guidelines. On the other hand, if they misbehave, you should punish them after explaining what they did wrong.

This approach will form a solid base in the child's mind as to what is expected from them and what is not.

As children develop, they begin thinking logically and the reward-punishment approach followed by parents will have to be modified. During the adolescent years, teenagers appreciate being treated like the individuals that they are, and will respond well to having things explained to them in detail.

Stories and anecdotes would prove to be ideal. Children should be made to learn from their mistakes, and parents should cite the actions of the children while explaining to them about morals and values.

Along with the parent's efforts it is important for children to have a first-hand experience of the benefits of good morals and values. Taking part in church activities, visiting synagogues and volunteering with local charities are some options to impart morals and values to teenagers.

A part-time job, or simply a role in the daily activities of the household, such as getting groceries, would be highly effective in teaching children about responsibility. When children witness the way in which their contributions can bring about a positive change they are likely to embrace such values for their lifetime.

It is important to understand that a set method of imparting morals and values cannot be effective for every child. As a parent, you need to understand the temperament and capabilities of your child, and plan accordingly.

Instead of forcing your point of view on children it is important to create an environment in which they learn for themselves. Morals and values learned through this approach will surely stay with the child permanently.•

Photo courtesy of sxc / necogarnic

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