Tag: Child

Parenting


Teaching Children Values

So much is going on in the world today. So much has changed and our societies in many instances have become much more violent. Our children are being exposed to a  lot of negative influences; on the internet, on the streets, in our schools and even in our homes.
It is our jobs as parents to raise our children to be decent upstanding citizens. This is not an easy task. It is imperative that we teach our children values. They need to understand that they are important; that their existence is no accident, they are here for a reason.
One of the most important thing we need to teach our children is to have self-respect. They also need to have respect for the lives of other people. Too many of our young people are committing crimes and taking the lives of others. They need to understand from an early age, that life is important and that it is wrong to take the life of another.

Respect for other people’s property. Sometimes little things like stealing begins from an early age. The child brings home a book or a pencil or a crayon that belongs to someone else from his or her kindergarten class; the parents see nothing wrong with the child keeping it. That is telling the child that it is okay to take something that is not his or hers and that is stealing.

We need to teach children to set high standards for themselves, to set goals and work towards them. To be always mindful of who they are. To stand up for what they believe in and more importantly to believe in themselves even if others don’t.

Parenting

First I want to say thank you to all of you who have been following my blogs, taking the time out to read my post and for your comments.  I would like you to know that I really do appreciate it.  

For the next couple of posts my focus will be on parenting and I would appreciate your thoughts on the subject.

Parenting

How many of us can say we are great parents?  Well maybe most of us will be modest and say that we do try.  To simply say parenting is not an easy job, is an understatement.  It really is not and like any other job it has its good days and bad.  Parenting skills are learned, we are not born with them.  You cannot just walk into a book shop, purchase a book on parenting, try to adapt to the written words and become a great parent.  It doesn’t happen that way.

Each child is an individual with his or her own special needs that has to be met.   Each child has his or her own likes and dislikes and rightly so even if they are twins, they have different personalities.  The key role of parents therefore is to get to know your child or children as individuals.  In the same way each pregnancy for a woman is different; in the same way no two children are going to be exactly alike.

One of the most important thing we as parents have to do is to have an open line of communication with our children from the moment they start learning to talk.  I know it isn’t always easy and sometimes we feel we just don’t have the time but we also have to learn to be better listeners.  Encourage them to express their feelings,.  Listen to their chatter even if it doesn’t make any sense!

 

Home School

There has been some discussion in the news media recently on the issue of the Prime Minister and his wife choosing the option of home schooling their two children.  I honestly cannot understand why anyone should have a problem with that given the reasons they gave for making this decision.  As parents they have the right to decide what is in the best interest of their children and this should not be a topic for public debate.  Some are saying he has no faith in the public education system.  These people  need to get their facts straight; these children were never in the public education system to begin with as it is in the case of most Member of Parliaments;  their children attend prep schools.  For those who are seeking to gain political points; please I beg of you leave children out of the politics.

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