Remember when young men took their caps off when they spoke to you? This is just an example of how much the family values has declined over the years, with the first one, the teaching of respect.
Used to be a time when you didn’t talk back to your elders, no matter how strongly you thought different on the matter. Parents taught heir children to respect adults. Where has this ideal gone? Where are the parents teaching self respect, honesty, and charity to their kids? The way some of these kids talk to their parents in the grocery store makes me wonder what the adults of tomorrow will be like.
In a return to family values, let’s discuss each of then in turn. To teach respect, you can tell your kids that their elders earned respect by the virtue of living for this long. Times used to be a lot harder, and people who grew up then and have made it deserve all the respect you can give them. The second family value is self respect. Teaching your children to have respect for their bodies, to take pride in the way that they dress, and to live with integrity is one of the most basic rights of a child for being taught by their parents, and the greatest gift you can give them. Self respect means treating other people well, and not giving in when your friends want you to do something that you know is wrong. Self respect means that you care enough about your self and your future to not make the wrong decisions.
Honesty is another family value. Becoming an adult with integrity, who people trust and want to be around, is another basic principle of raising a child. Don’t let your child get away with any dishonesty, from stealing the smallest piece of candy to telling lies. And don’t be a liar yourself. Children learn by example, and watch everything you do and they also hear more than you know. Teach them that it is better to cop to what they’ve done right away, building lies on top of more lies will only make you spiritually sick.
A most important family value is charity. Children need to be taught to be grateful for what they have and to share with the less fortunate. This value can be taught through action only, and taking your kids down to volunteer at the local food bank one weekend a month, or finding charities through your church is a great way to instill this value.
Teaching family values is the responsibility of the parents. Don’t expect them to learn these at school. Church can be helpful, but in the end it all comes down to children learn what they see, so develop your sense of right and wrong and pass this down to your children. You can get help and find out how to talk to your kids by asking your pastor or typing ”family values” into your search engine, and remember, don’t teach them anything you wouldn’t do yourself.