collaborative guest post
Respect is something that children should learn to pick up from a young age. It’s something that will come up as a key trait that children will need to learn to develop as they get older, and it will continue to be important in their development. Teaching your child what it means to be respectful can be done in a few ways to help them understand it as they grow older.
In this guide from a nursery in Essex, we take a look at the ways you can help your child become respectful towards others.
Model respect in the home
A great way to begin a child’s understanding of respect is through demonstrating it in the home. Offer respect to your own child by factoring in their opinion, listening to them intently and showing them how you appreciate their input. If you need to, you can tell them that these are examples of being respectful in the hope they can replicate what you’ve taught them to their friends, family and others.
Use their favourite TV programmes to find examples of respect
Educational TV programmes are a great way of showing children how to pick up a lot of core moral values. Respect will be one of these, and it’ll help your child learn to act the same in real life. TV shows specifically made for children include a range of educational support for children and teach them life skills.
Point of signs of good behaviour
Respect goes beyond the act of supporting others around you, regardless of your opinion of them. It also means you’re compassionate, willing to change to help others, and know when you are in the wrong. Point out examples of these to your child to help them visualise what it means to be respectful in more ways than one.
Praise your child
It should be something we all do with our children, but praising your child goes a long way towards reinforcing something that your child will continue to do. It indicates to your child that they’ve done something important and will be able to remember to behave in the same way each time an opportunity presents itself.
Don’t let bad behaviour slide
On the flip side, poor behaviour from your child is only going to make things worse for their development. Parents should keep an eye on a child’s behaviour as much as they can - they can stamp out poor behaviour early on.
