As your child grows older, it is important to instill in them good values. This way, they will be able to contribute to society and become kind, confident individuals.
Why is it Important to Teach Values to Children?
It is important to teach values to children when they are young. That way, they learn easily and will set firm habits for when they are older.
Children are sponges and soak up all the information. When you teach your child values as soon as they are born, they won’t know any other way!
It is much harder to correct bad habits than to simply start a good habit from the beginning. So teach your child great values as soon as you can.
10 Values to Teach
Here are ten super simple values to teach your children. This will help them to be successful in life and be happy as well.
Honesty
We all know how important honesty is in life. Every single day your child will be given a choice whether to be honest, or not.
The best way to teach honesty and all of the other values is through your example. So, make sure you are always honest too.
This is especially crucial for the little white lies our child might hear from us. Don’t cancel a playdate and mention you’re sick when you really aren’t. Your child does pick up on that.
Instead of giving harsh punishments when a lie is told, find the time to praise the times when they are honest. This will reinforce them to be honest more often, as they know it makes you happy.
Respect
It is important to teach your child how to respect something and someone.
Respecting the things we own teaches our children that we can take care of things we have to make them last longer. This will in turn help your child to take better care of his toys, clothes, and items.
One of the biggest values to teach your child right now is to be respectful to all human beings. While it is important to respect one’s elders, it is crucial to teach that we must respect everyone.
Our environment also deserves respect. Teach your child respect by taking care of nature and the land you live on.
Start a garden together, and participate in community efforts to clean up your neighborhood. This will teach your child to respect everything.
Kindness
Kindness is another important value to teach your children.
Be kind to anyone, especially if your views or lifestyle is different from your own. You will never know how bad of a day someone is going through, so always be kind.
It is important to not only teach kindness but also teach your child that sometimes it’s so good to go out of your way to make someone’s day by being kind.
One way to teach this is to give tons of compliments to your child, family members, friends, and people you meet.
Open the door for others, smile, and wave often. By being kind, you will instantly teach your child to be kind as well.
Selflessness
Selflessness is another vital value children need to learn from a young age.
In our world nowadays, we need more selfless people. We need our children to know how important it is to serve those around us.
Participate in a community garden just for fun. Go rack the leaves for the elderly around your neighborhood.
Serve all the time, and make it a family event. Lead by example for this value.
Responsibility
A lot of adults struggle with the burdens that come from their responsibilities. Most often, this is because they didn’t have many responsibilities as a child.
It’s important to give your child responsibilities around the house. For some parents, that’s usually giving chores to their children.
While responsibilities are good, this only works if the chore or responsibility is age appropriate. Don’t give a 4-year-old vacuuming every day.
Start off small and slowly work your way up. It could be as simple as your child packing their backpack for school, or remembering to give the dog food. It’s what your child needs the most.
Love
Teach your child how important it is to show love to one another.
So often, children grow up in homes where love is not freely given, which is so saddening.
Say “I love you” often to your child. Let them know you truly mean it.
While saying it is so important, also lead by example. Teach your child that loving someone also involves actions.
Teach them what it feels like to be loved, so they not only know their own worth, but will also love others the same way.
As soon as someone knows what it feels like to be loved, they don’t want anyone else to feel less than that.
Empathy
It is important to note that empathy and sympathy are two entirely different things.
Sympathy is feeling bad for someone.
Empathy is taking the time to think and understand exactly how someone might be feeling. It is internalizing someone else’s pain.
While sympathy is good, having empathy is a better value to teach your child. Not many parents do, and it is evident in today’s world.
When your child is hurting, instead of brushing it off or simply saying, “you’re okay,” take the time to slow down and talk through their pain.
Listen to how they are feeling and all their emotions, and try to understand. Put yourself in their shoes. When you do, you’ll be able to respond with empathy.
Children are so much more aware of emotions even if they can’t fully explain how they are feeling yet. When you use empathy with your child, they will feel it, and it will be incredibly powerful.
Diligence
Diligence and perseverance go hand in hand and are both great values to teach your child.
So often nowadays, kids will quit and give up after barely any time. It’s important to teach kids that their hard work will pay off in the end.
Teaching your child not to give up will help them in future jobs and throughout their entire schooling.
Start small and help them finish a difficult puzzle they can’t finish on their own. Then slowly teach them to be diligent during difficult tasks as well.
Gratitude
While it is important to teach your child to say thank you, gratitude is much deeper than that.
Start by making it a fun thing to do during their bedtime routine. Have them name five things they were grateful for that day. Make it a game and try to both pick new things each day.
This will help your kids to find the good during any hard task or day, which they will use every day of their lives.
Gratitude also helps a child be genuinely happy more often than not. It instills in them to find good no matter what.
Self-Love
Most kids struggle with loving themselves and their self-esteem.
Teach your child to say good things about themselves and to appreciate who they are.
Loving your child no matter what will, in turn, teach them to do the same.
This is also best taught by example, so don’t say negative things about yourself either!
When a child has self-love, there is nothing that can stop them.
Teach your child these ten amazing values, and you will see how incredible they will become!
You’ll be thankful you started instilling these values earlier as well.
Bio:
Aloha! I am a mama of 3 little ones. All my life I wanted to be a mom. After graduating from college in psychology, I combined my two passions of motherhood and mental health to create a place to help moms find their true identities and potential by helping them achieve their optimal mental health.
