Children from around 4 years, begin exploring the world like never before. Their entire interaction with family, friends and people around is based more towards their own interests. In all these activities, they start showing a lot of emotions like anger, frustration, excitement, happiness and many more. They are still learning to feel these emotions and contain them too. Often this age kids are difficult and show disrespect most of the time. So here are some ways on teaching kids respect others, though it is difficult and may not be possible to contain all the time. But instilling respect early on will help in future.
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Ways on teaching kids respect others include:
1- Respect your children:
The child must be respected and and made to feel special. The more they see respect, the easier they will learn it too. If we as parents are sarcastic and arrogant, we must except the same rude behavior from our little ones. A child learns from experiences, and when they see disrespect around they will learn and season it in their system. So it is very important to be humble and respectful all the time
2- Respect each other in family:
Not just the child but the way parents interact among themselves also plays a very important role in shaping behavior and mannerisms in child. Never argue or abuse each other in front of children, and keep all the heated arguments and fights confined to the bedroom. As it not only makes them disrespectful but also causes psychological impacts.
3- Stay calm and patient:
When you encounter any disrespectful act, do not shout or punish outrightly. Be calm and just let it pass. Ignorance at that instant is the first line of command, to teach respect. the more your pay attention to anything unreasonable, more that becomes a part of the child. So just let it go, and do not take strong steps to rectify them yet
4- Catch the disrespect early on to correct it:
The quicker you find the bad behavior, the easier it is to rectify. Be alert and attend to the misbehavior as soon as you get to know. Just an assertive “we don’t do this way” is way more powerful than punishments
5- Check what they see on TV or tablet:
Most of the time we do not monitor what is seen on TV or tablet by our children. This may lead to some more disrespect in their mannerisms. As a lot of shows are poorly made, like the youtube local videos. They look appealing to kids but they have inappropriate content. So keep a check on that
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6- Teach basic etiquettes:
Basic etiquettes like thank you, sorry, please and more, must be a part of your regular interaction at home. The more you use these words, the better learning your child will have. Basic mannerisms must become so organic that an excuse me or pardon please are set as reflexes in their system. The quicker they master these, the better it will be for their life ahead.
7- Understand the causes:
Be sure to check what makes your child misbehave and disrespect. There may be certain actionable triggers. You may work on removing or moderating these triggers. If you child shouts back when your switch off the TV, then you can set timer or stop doing it when your child is around. It not about battling on who’s the winner, but about understanding your child’s needs and pacifying them when they get annoyed
8- Communicate:
Communication is the key to every thing around. Just find the right time to discuss the importance of respecting others. Just cool off the cranky episodes first. Then find a suitable time ad talk about it. Be sure to lay emphasis on importance of good manners and respect.
9- Don’t over react:
Even if the child has made a major mistake but do not over react. Let that moment pass, and then take your time to explain the mistake. In an impulse we all feel like controlling our child, when they do something wrong, but this does not help in instilling respect. Do not start elaborate explanations when everyone is around, this will embarrass your child even more. Find a quiet one to one time and proceed.
10- Punitive strategies may be momentary success but they don’t last long:
You may scare your child once or twice by shouting or spanking, but this is not the long term fix for the problem in hand. The more we explain and put effort in showing them the appropriate behavior, the better it will be set in their system.
11- Apologize:
Seeking apology is extremely important virtue. A child must always be humble and seek apology for everything they did wrong. All of us make mistakes, even as parents remember to apologize to your kids when you are at fault. This will help in making them learn the importance of apologizing.
12- Be firm when dealing with disrespect:
For kids who are extremely disrespectful, it is always good to be assertive and firm in taking the disrespect. Do not shout or punish but firmly bend to their level and say, “we don’t do this way” Don’t take all what our children give us, just be calm and tell them not to repeat as this is not appropriate.
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The above compilation on “Ways on teaching kids respect others” is to help you how to explain respect to a child. This is very important for their success in life ahead. The more humble and well mannered they are, the better it will be for their overall development. Be sure to not use abusive and harsh methods, as punishing them would not correct their behavior. Just be firm and explain.
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By Minu Manisha
