How to be good leader by knowing and learning good values early in life?
Introduction
Values are one of the bedrock of every positive and successful individual in our society today, when you see an individual with a strong character in their dealings with situations or people as well as a positive attitude to life, check their values.
Children are not exempted from the importance of values. If a child is taught positive values, then he will learn the importance and hold onto it. This will significantly influence the child’s outlook on life. Several individuals and organizations have owed their success to the right core values when telling their success story.
Recent studies have shown that 50% of Parents with children age below 18 think their method of raising a child is the best. While this may be true, but the question is, How many parents are training their children the right way? Another question is, How can Parents train their children positively, and how will they know they are doing it right? This is what this article is set to reveal.
What is Value?
Values are what governs one’s principles or standard of behavior. It influences one’s judgment of what is essential in life. Core values are essential in the life of a child to enable them to recognize the difference in what is wrong and what is right. Children are the future; hence it is important to groom them to become suitable and helpful to society.
Values in relation to social environment
The social environment is the foundation on which a child’s values are built upon. The social environment helps a child to build a social relationship. This is because the basis of social relations, which is a child’s intuitive feeling and conduct, is greatly influenced by the support of the people the child is surrounded by.
Several studies have shown that social relationships affect a child’s self-esteem. If a child has strong social relationships, it builds their confidence and self-esteem; this influences the child’s feelings or emotional growth. It also helps children to adapt easily to any environment while growing up.
Parental Influence over children
Values can be imparted into a child not just by word or teachings but by our actions as an adult. This is why it’s important also to have positive values as Parents and Guardians. There is a popular saying that a child doesn’t do what he is asked to do but does what he sees notable characters in his life doing.
To help a child develop positive values, one must realize the role of the social environment in a child’s life. The effect of the social environment on a child’s moral growth can’t be overemphasized. Who are the people that make up a child’s social environment? They are the child’s parents, siblings, members of their family as well as the child’s friends (peer group).
Life experience that buttress importance of value and how to instill it.
There was once a story of a Dad and his two young kids at the supermarket. The younger one accidentally knocked her sister down with her elbow. The elder one expected her little sister to say sorry, but she refused. Their father, who witnessed it, urged her to apologize, but the little girl began to throw tantrums and claimed it was an accident, this generated attention from other people in the supermarket.
Several people gave their opinion, and the popular one was “ spank her hard.” One would expect the father of these girls to follow any of the advice; even the elder sister urged their dad to forget it. The man genuinely wanted to teach his girls the power of saying sorry that day. Now what he did was that he held the little girl gently, looked into her eyes and told her calmly how important it is to say sorry when you hurt people.
The girl, after hearing this from her dad, genuinely apologized to her sister, and it seemed that was all the child needed to experience to learn how to say sorry. The girl didn’t learn that lesson from what her father told her, something happened shortly after that incident that influenced her greatly. A young lady was pushing an overloaded cart in the supermarket and talking on the phone at the same time.
The young girl who just apologized got hit by the cart the lady was pushing. The lady didn’t even spare her a glance, and the little girl was expecting an apology since she had been taught by her father to apologize when you hurt someone, whether it’s an accident or not. When the girl’s father saw what happened, he walked up to the lady and politely asked her to apologize to his daughter for bumping into her.
Parents, guardians, and teachers have a vital role to play when it comes to imparting positive values into a child. A child does what he sees his parents and guardians do not what you tell him to do. Ensure you also practice the values you teach a child.
Values To Impart Your Child
Listed below are values to teach a child, amongst others.
Respect
What is respect? There are several definitions of respect in the dictionary, like a show of high esteem and honor to someone via word or deed. Another meaning states that respect can also be a feeling of friendship and esteem. This proves that respect is not only when children show high regard for older people.
Every child should be taught the importance of respect. Parents should understand that children showing respect should not be only to adults or familiar faces. Respect can be shown even amongst peers and strangers, and this is a value that must be imparted from childhood. Hence it becomes part of the child’s life even till adulthood.
Teamwork
When children are enrolled in school, they are placed in the same class with their playgroup, this helps them to mingle and play more with their age group. Teamwork simply means cooperative work that is done by a team. Hence it takes cooperation to partake in partnership.
This is why it is essential to encourage the art of teamwork in children. It will help them understand how to interact and deal with others despite their differences to attain the same goal. This is an excellent attribute in several professional and personal relationships. Help your child learn the importance of good working and social relationships with others.
Discipline
There are several definitions of discipline. In this context, discipline involves a system of rules of conduct or method of practice; hence your child needs to know the laws and regulations as well as obeying and following instructions.
Parents should enlighten children on the consequence of not obeying laid down rules and regulations either at home or school. Rules are put in place for orderliness; this is why a child who follows the rules is termed, well-behaved children.
Parents have to understand that discipline has the power to develop a child’s self-control due to consistent instructions and practice. This means that discipline is not a one time thing; it’s a process that makes a child well-groomed to become a responsible adult at the end of the day.
Taking responsibility for actions
The art of taking responsibility is very vital in every humans’ life, it is a trait that everyone should learn and embrace as a child. It is dependent on Parents and guardians to help children understand that taking responsibility is a sign of growth, make them see that life has its moments, and it’s full of up and downs.
Help your child understand that life is not a bed of roses, and sometimes things do not always work out the way they envision; despite that, one must forge ahead and not let situations weigh them down. Teach them to learn from their success and even failures and also to take responsibility for whatever happens at the end of the day.
Tell them your story’ guide them with your life experience
When you narrate your personal experience to your child, it helps you relate real-life lessons to them easily. Stories sound like fun to children, and they do not easily forget as well as the lessons learned from it. It also aids communication between children and adults.
Time management
Parents should instill time management into their children’s routines. Every child should learn how to use time effectively and also do everything they are expected to do well. There is time for everything; parents need to guide their children on what to do per time. This is highly important. For instance, a child should know when it is time to retire to bed or time to eat and do the dishes. Parents should never condone procrastination because once a child gets used to it affects that child’s effectiveness. Help them to learn how to work fast and smart as they indulge in their daily activities.
Practice what you advice
This article has emphasized how important it is for parents to do what they say because most times, children tend to follow the footsteps of their parents and guardians. Children do what they see you do and not just what you tell them. Be a good example and a worthy role model for your kids.
Reward or Recognize every good action
Always be attentive and alert to your child’s actions so as to recognize when your child exhibits any of these positive values. Always commend them for a job well-done when they do and reward them from to time.
Reward motivates a child to do more. When you praise them for good deeds, it goes a long way in shaping a child’s mind. Parents should never turn a blind eye to their children’s display of positive values. Praise and recognition from parents mean a lot to children because, at this stage, they work really hard to impress their parents and guardians.
Benefits of instilling value
Children are the leaders of tomorrow; hence it is important to set a proper foundation for a child. Everything they do will be based on the firm foundation of positive values encouraged by parents and guardians discussed in this article. This will, in turn, birth responsible adults with strong and positive core values useful for the growth and development of the society and the Nation.
Parents can become very proud of their children when they see them display good and quality values. This article isn’t just helpful for parents but also teachers who also have an important role to play in the life of children, because a child can become confused when what is encouraged in school is not aligning to what is taught at home.
I hope this article has been helpful in revealing the values to teach a child and its importance. Sure’ you’ve got something to contribute, ask or want us to learn from your personal experience, kindly don’t hesitate, feel concerned to share with us by using the comment box below. You can also click to share for others to benefit. Thanks for reading.
DFlourishingKids™ 
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