Being a parent is a continual life lesson, but while the task of parenting is something we know that is a daily development, the other aspect that we question with regards to our own parenting skills is which aspects and life lessons do we want to pass on to our children? As our children grow older and blossom from young babies to toddlers to children, and then, finally, to teenagers and adults, it is us who are the people who need to guide them in the right direction. So, it can be a very difficult thing to school our children in the fundamentals, because very possibly we don't have them ourselves. But to raise a fully rounded person, what are the key things we should teach our children while we have the chance?
The Mind (And Body) Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
We've all heard the clichés of yesteryear when it comes to looking after ourselves. But it seems that now, more than ever, it's becoming a truer sentiment. The rise in cases of age-related cognitive decline, dementia, and Alzheimer’s, are teaching us the importance of looking after our minds. Our children grow up in environments where intelligence is mocked, and children who have significant brain power are considered “nerds”. We should pride ourselves on teaching our children the importance of memory care, looking after your faculties, and make sure that we preserve our brains much like we would do our bodies. While our children, and we, as parents, look after our bodies because we are told to do so, we don't normally get given the same amount of information when it comes to looking after our brains. The best way to do this? Get your children to exercise their minds. And, the best way for children to do this, without it being a boring task, like piano lessons, is to make it fun for them. Regardless of your opinion on computer games, there are some that are fantastic for your children's minds. Exercising your mind is as important as exercising your body.
The Importance Of Manners
It seems that as every generation is living longer now, lots of people have more opinions on the idea of respect. Respect for your elders seems to be gradually declining with every generation. Whether this is the folly of youth, or if there's another reason for it, we need to look at ways of becoming kinder. When we look at things like social media, where we are protected by our screen, which gives rise to those so-called keyboard warriors, the feeling is that lots of people can do and say whatever they want. And this is not a healthy way to breed kindness and respect. You need to instill these important habits in your children as soon as possible. But as parents, we can only do so much. And whether this means limiting your child's screen time, it's up to you, but the one take away from this is you should instill the idea of respect, so they can reap the benefit of empathy. So many people dish out hate without regard for the consequences. So if we can do this when our children are young enough so they can learn what the effects of bad manners and being rude towards people are.
Honesty (To Themselves And To Others)
Because of something like social media, it's never been easier for our children to build up an image of themselves to broadcast to the masses that is not their true self. The thing about being honest with yourself is such an integral part to developing as a human being that if you were to try and be something you're not, it becomes one of those lessons that you learn too late in life. And yes, while the benefits of learning it later means you will enjoy your life more eventually, but if we can raise our children to be honest and true to themselves, and not worry about what other people think, and to trust their instincts, this will be the formula for a child that is as happy as they can possibly be. The rise in problems like depression and anxiety in children under the age of 10 is so widespread now, that's we can only assume that part of this is down to a lot of children worrying about their self-image. Helping our children to be confident in who they are will certainly improve their outlook on life. This is the very definition of honesty. In addition to this, if we can teach our children to trust in their abilities, and to not put up a smoke screen towards society, in other words, to be open and honest with others, this will, again, be a wonderful life lesson for children. The problem that we have when we learn that people take advantage of our honesty is that we put up our guard. This is a natural defense mechanism for us all as people, but if we can teach our children that these people aren't worth wasting their time over, this will be worth its weight in gold in an emotional sense. We've all made that mistake of spending too much time and effort on someone who is ultimately bad for us, and this is the very definition of a toxic relationship, so by getting this idea across to our children when they are young enough, will instill a very rounded approach to dealing with people.
Life is a series of challenges, and as parents, we have them on a daily basis, and the reason we struggle as parents is because sometimes we have to learn how to do something from scratch, and this is all about forging important relationships with people in our lives. If we can teach our children the importance of dealing with stress, and accepting who they are as soon as possible, we can congratulate ourselves on a job well done. But, as children look to us for inspiration on how to live their life, this means that we need to embody these traits. Leading by example is the most important thing in parenting, so if there are lessons you want to teach your children specifically about life, then you need to embody those and deal with them accordingly.
