Parenting Tips on How to Develop and Instill the Virtues and Values into Your Child
How do you teach your child to be dutiful to the parents; to be respectful and loving to the siblings; to be cautious with all people, matters and objects in our daily lives; to be trustworthy person; to love all beings equally; to be close to and learn from people of virtue and compassion?
How do you "teach" and "instill" virtues and values into your child? The so-called virtues and values are actually referring to the preference that determines one's decision in making a selection when face with choices in life. For example, if your child has a hundred dollar and he is approached to donate the hundred dollar to the Earth Quake Disaster Fund, whether he will donate the hundred dollar to the Fund or prefer to keep the hundred dollar so that he can use it to replace his hand phone with a newer model, is dependent on his values system.
It is important to understand that the virtues and values are learned and built up through the actual life experiences; your child will therefore naturally learn the virtues and values through what he actually sees and the personal experiences that he undergoes in his life; he does not therefore learn the virtues and values solely from what is taught by the teachers or what is said by the parents. He learns from the actions of the role models that he associates with, who can be his parents, teachers, friends or anyone close to him.
The parents therefore need to reflect upon themselves and review their own attitudes towards life so that they can become the right role model for the child to learn from.
In a recent school holiday, the Parents Association of a school organized an outing to the zoo for the students from different classes in the school. The parents responsible for food has prepared delicious sandwiches, burgers, and fried chickens. However, there were students who complained about the food and refused to eat them; and there were also students who take a few bites of the sandwiches or the fried chicken and threw them away as they complained that the taste does not satisfy their taste buds. The parents responsible for food appeared to be very worried and kept pestering these students to take their food and even offer to buy them any food of their wish. However, there were also another group of students who commented, "Let them be if they refuse to eat the food that has been prepared, why do you need even to bother about them!" This same group of students was also very critical and criticized those who have wasted and thrown away the food without eating them. When approached and asked, this group of students replied, "We have a different value system in life!"
How do you "teach" and "instill" virtues and values into your child? The so-called virtues and values are actually referring to the preference that determines one's decision in making a selection when face with choices in life. For example, if your child has a hundred dollar and he is approached to donate the hundred dollar to the Earth Quake Disaster Fund, whether he will donate the hundred dollar to the Fund or prefer to keep the hundred dollar so that he can use it to replace his hand phone with a newer model, is dependent on his values system.
It is important to understand that the virtues and values are learned and built up through the actual life experiences; your child will therefore naturally learn the virtues and values through what he actually sees and the personal experiences that he undergoes in his life; he does not therefore learn the virtues and values solely from what is taught by the teachers or what is said by the parents. He learns from the actions of the role models that he associates with, who can be his parents, teachers, friends or anyone close to him.
The parents therefore need to reflect upon themselves and review their own attitudes towards life so that they can become the right role model for the child to learn from.
In a recent school holiday, the Parents Association of a school organized an outing to the zoo for the students from different classes in the school. The parents responsible for food has prepared delicious sandwiches, burgers, and fried chickens. However, there were students who complained about the food and refused to eat them; and there were also students who take a few bites of the sandwiches or the fried chicken and threw them away as they complained that the taste does not satisfy their taste buds. The parents responsible for food appeared to be very worried and kept pestering these students to take their food and even offer to buy them any food of their wish. However, there were also another group of students who commented, "Let them be if they refuse to eat the food that has been prepared, why do you need even to bother about them!" This same group of students was also very critical and criticized those who have wasted and thrown away the food without eating them. When approached and asked, this group of students replied, "We have a different value system in life!"
Source...