The saying goes “Grades don’t define a person, attitude & character does”. According to Opal Academy, your child is a natural being worthy to be taught the good values and right ethics conduct to carry with them along in life. Let us explore together the beginning of values development for children and the different ways you can help your child develop these values.
What are Values?
Values are the basic & fundamental beliefs that guide or motivate our attitudes or actions. For example, it helps you determine what is important and it provides the purpose behind your actions. Values are the end to why you act and behave in a certain way when put in any live setting.
Values development is a form of development that takes place during childhood. This development is closely interconnected with both social and emotional development.
Some of the most important values in life include Courage, kindness, patience, integrity, gratitude, and forgiveness.
Why are values and ethics important?
There are so many reasons why values are important to kids. Your main responsibility is to let your child learn the different values necessary to live a fulfilling life.
You must be sure that they develop the right values, which they can use now and in the future. Those values will act as their compass in life. A compass that’ll make sure your child won’t even get lost.
When do children start developing values?
Your child will start developing values in his first year of age. It doesn’t mean if your child can’t talk, they still observe, digest, and mimic values through you and others.
According to Erik Erikson’s psychosocial development theory, your child can develop the value of trust from birth to a year old.
Your child is dependent on whoever takes care of them. For example: how responsive you are to your child can develop trust.
Other values will continue to develop after the first year and It usually depends on how do you handle their every tantrum, happy moment, and /or new experiences.
How can you help your child develop values?
Helping your child develop values is all about developing positive attitudes or traits. Let us introduce you to five simple ways of inculcating values to your child:
Be Their Role Model, guiding your child will have the biggest impact when you are an example to follow. Walk the talk as what they say and exemplify these key values: Courage, kindness, patience, integrity, gratitude, and forgiveness.
Share moral experiences, as what they say a wise man learns from experience, but a wiser man learns from others’ experiences. Share your own experience with your child, not because they didn’t experience a certain thing, they can’t be able to learn anything from it.
Help them practice their learnings. Don’t stop at giving your child advice, let them do it, let them explore, and have a reflection conversation around it. Ask your child to be kind to family, then watch them practice kindness to others and use it as an opportunity to reflect and expand kindness beyond.
Acknowledge good behaviour. Appreciation is a powerful motivational tool. Use with your child by appreciating the values they demonstrate. Keep it within acceptable limits but don’t ignore praising and rewarding your child for values demonstrated.
Bonus
Take some time to learn more about children’s soft skills and values that will help them stand out. A great way to start can be this free email course on children soft skills.
Developing your child’s values can be a demanding task, that will require time and effort. However, the impact can go beyond your child’s success all the way to inspiring a community of future generations with the right values.
Step by step, help your child to live independently with values that everyone can be proud of.
Sources:
https://www.ilgufo.com/design/en/magazine/the-most-important-values-we-should-teach-our-kids
https://ofhsoupkitchen.org/importance-moral-values-children
