Information Related to "10 Practical Ways to Teach Your Children Right Values"
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Respect, kindness, honesty, courage, perseverance, self-discipline, compassion, generosity, dependability. Most parents want to instill these kinds of values in their children. Doing so will protect them from potentially negative societal influences and lay the foundation for them to become good citizens. We're not fulfilling our responsibilities as parents if we don't try to instill solid morals in our children.
Of course, this is often easier said than done. Teaching values takes time-a scarce commodity for many parents today. "Our increasingly competitive economy is creating an environment where Mom and Dad are spending longer hours at work and fewer hours with their children," observes Gary Hill, Ph.D., director of Clinical Services at The Family Institute at Northwestern University.
As a result, outside influences like peer pressure and the entertainment industry-through the Internet, television, movies, video games and music-are having a greater affect on children, shaping their perspectives more than ever before.
What's a parent to do? "You need to make time to be with your kids and make the time you have with them really count," Dr. Hill urges. "Talk with them about what's right and wrong, and what constitutes good behavior and what doesn't."
Have these kinds of conversations with your kids on a regular basis so that the topic of values becomes a completely "normal" one in your household. That way, in the future, if your children do face moral conundrums, they're going to be more comfortable broaching the subject with you than with their peers. If you don't address these issues with your kids, society will fill in the void, says Dr. Hill.
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