EXPLORING MORAL VALUES WITH YOUR CHILD | AD

16th August 2021 Family

This is a collaborative post. Thank you for supporting the posts which make this blog possible.

We all want our children to grow up to be kind to others and to know the difference between right and wrong, so exploring moral values with them from an early age can help with this. Children will form their own sense of morality from watching how their parents and peers interact with others, as well as learning to make their own judgements about situations. If you want to instil strong moral values in your child, here’s some advice from a pre-prep school in Kensington. 

Photo by Artem Kniaz on Unsplash

Gratitude

You can get your child into the habit of approaching life with optimism by encouraging them to reflect regularly on the good things in their life and appreciate what they have. This will prevent them comparing themselves negatively to others. Make a habit of counting your blessings as a family each day, and prompt your child to show appreciation toward others who have done something kind for them. This will also help them see that not everyone is as fortunate as them and they should always try to help others when possible.

Kindness

It’s important to teach our children that kindness goes a long way, and that we should always be kind to others (and expect it in return).  They’ll learn that they can show kindness in many ways, for example, through giving up their time to help others or sharing something they have with someone else. You can model this yourself by making sure your child sees you being helpful and compassionate toward others, such as helping an elderly person at the supermarket or complimenting someone on their appearance. Your child will realise what a difference even small acts of kindness like these can make to people. 

Honesty

One of the most important things we as parents should teach children is that honesty is always the best policy and that lying is wrong. You can reinforce this by having a discussion about honesty when you catch your child lying, and praising them when they tell the truth. Children need to learn to be tactful though and deliver the truth in a way which doesn’t hurt other people’s feelings. Model this behaviour yourself in your everyday interactions and there’s a good chance your child will follow suit. 

Although it’s our job as parents to help our children learn what’s right and what’s wrong, we should also give them the freedom to hone their own set of moral values based on their experience of the word and their own decision-making skills.