Implanting Values in Kids
Parenting is one of the most challenging jobs in the world. You get full responsibility for shaping a human being, and according to what you teach them, they pass them along from one generation to another.
Think about the best traits you would want in your partner or your friend. We say: honesty, loyalty, gratitude, generosity, and teamwork.
These are all traits that are either in a human being or not. If you don’t plant them from the beginning, they are very hard to be in a person. And in Under 5, we believe, that these qualities are as equally, if not more, important to education. We will give you a quick guide of how we do it in class!
1. Honesty
Children start lying by the age of 2 or 3! “I did not hit my brother”, “I did not spill that milk”… and that could go from just a simple lie to a lifetime habit. So our one advice would be to always, always, and always stress on the fact that your child will never be punished for telling the truth about doing something wrong. He will be punished though for lying about it.
But then how do you explain that to your little one?
Here’s a simple game:
Do some actions and narrate them and ask them if you’re telling the truth or not. For example, hold your hair and then say “Mommy is holding her legs!” now ask them to identify if this was the truth or not. Drink water and say “Mommy is eating chicken’’…
2. Loyalty
Loyalty to family and friends always translates to security. Your toddler knowing that they can count on you and other family members will trigger this trait inside him.
Here’s our game!
Open a family photo album and have them pick their most loved ones.
Take out the pictures and stick them together to any board or chart.
Start remembering the incidents when this member made your child happy and helped them out, and other instances when your child made a family member happy (ex. when they bought them a gift)
3. Gratitude
Raising a grateful child is the number one quality that gives us a happy human. Being grateful and content to what you have, and appreciative to what other do is a beautiful quality.
Here are some tips.
When a friend or a family member does something nice to them, sit together and write thank you cards and have them give it to them.
Before putting them to sleep, ask them to say thank you God for having mommy with me, for sleeping on my favorite character bed, and for the new toy daddy bought me.
4. Generosity
Almost all kids are born selfish! “This is my toy”, “this is my candy”. And sharing is not in the dictionary at first! So how do we get them to be generous?
When you’re out together, if you find a crying baby, talk to them about it, ask them by do they think the baby is crying and think together of how we can make her happy! And then suggest buying her a candy and giving it to her
5. Self-Worth
The main factor behind success is believing in and appreciating oneself. This goes along with confidence. Try our following trick with your little one, it works wonders!
Bring a chart and write together some goals in it. (ex. Aly can brush his teeth by himself, Aly can count to Ten)
Have them hang a sticker to each goal achieved
