Today – How to Raise a Respectful Child
Growing children may be tougher to handle on the physical front, considering how full of energy they are, but when it comes to having an impact on their minds, it isn’t difficult at all.
That’s exactly why it is best to teach your little one to be respectful and polite at an early stage itself, and that’s what you’re looking to do, here’s a bit of help. Read on to discover 7 tips on how to raise a respectful child, I hope you find them to be useful.
How to raise a respectful child – simple and effective tips
When it comes to knowing how to raise a respectful child it is important to get the balance right between guiding and controlling. I am absolutely not advocating you try and control your child more that you help guide them to choose respect as they way they communicate through modelling and other prompts.
Respect can have a bad rap when it comes to something to teach your child but I strongly believe it can be taught gently and yes respectfully.
Value your Kid’s Choices
One of the most important steps on the road to learning how to raise a respectful child is, as a parent to ensure that you raise your child into a human being that’s humble, honest, respectful and has all the good qualities is to make him feel valued when he’s young. He might still be your little baby, but he’s actually growing up and discovering his identity, and when he feels valued and respected, he’ll effortlessly learn to give others the same.
Model Good Behavior
You knew this one was coming! Parents need to understand that their children quickly pick up what they observe them doing, and that’s exactly why by simply making a conscious effort to be on their best behaviour, parents are actually teaching their children the same! Remember to be polite to everyone around you- especially your child.
Identify the Cause
If your little one seems to be good-natured and respectful around everyone else but loses it around a particular someone (or you), you might want to sit down and try to identify the cause. Most of the time, children lash out or are impolite around those that don’t make them feel good or just get them upset and angry. If it is you, it might be time for a little introspection about the way you’re treating your kid. How to raise a respectful child? Well it starts with you
Avoid Forced Affection
A lot of parents don’t realize this, but when they force their kids to give their grandma a kiss or their aunt a hug, they’re actually making them awkward and uncomfortable, and that forced affection isn’t healthy, especially in the long run. Remember that if your child really likes someone, you won’t have to force him to be affectionate towards them. T
Allow Decision Making
Don’t just allow decision making actively encourage it – it is a really important life skill,
Again, here, when you allow your kid to take part in decision making and have his express his opinions, you’re making them feel important. Research has shown, time and time again how children benefit developmentally when they are allowed to be a part of a decision-making process- even if it is something as simple as what should be cooked for dinner.
They are a part of your family and their voice is really important – by you respecting their opinions they will respect yours. And through you respecting their voice they will also respect yours.
Resolve Conflicts Humbly
Let’s get real. Conflicts often arise in a household, and if you demonstrate humbleness and patience during those times, you’re literally showing your kid how to do it. If it is a conflict with your little one, make sure you have a fair hearing and allow your kid to talk about his side of the story too- even if you disagree with him. Be humble and respectful throughout the conflict- no matter what.
So don’t be scared of conflict but do show peacekeeping and problem-solving skills in action – they are absolutely invaluable in life and in all relationships from romantic to family and in friendship and in work.
Stay Calm
No matter what you do, there might be times when your child may burst out in anger and say inappropriate things or behave in an inappropriate way. When that happens, do your best to stay calm and patient instead of yelling back. Deep breaths required! Once things have settled down, approach your kid and gently talk about different ways you could both work together to avoid these situations, and why you should.
I find this really hard and I honestly think most people do. One trick I have at this point is to take a rest break, go into the bathroom, splash some cold water on your pulse points and breathe in a for 5 then slowly breathe out for a count of five. Then readdress the situation. You will be in a much better place to respond rather than react if you take this healing time away for yourself.
So yes you get what you give really in this parenting game so if you give respect you will get it and that I think is the key to knowing how to raise a respectful child
So I do hope you have found this post on how to raise a respectful child useful – you may also like my post how to be a calm parent on how to be a cool parent
A few more thoughts on raising respectful kids
Helping children manage their feeling and develop empathy goes a long way towards helping them respect other people. Encouraging your child in practices of volunteering or helping others out in some way really helps them see 1) how good their own lives are 2) the feeling and circumstances of others. This goes a long way to feeling respectful and not so entitled. Maybe you could encourage them to look at gifts to really cheer someone up
Do take a look at my book Create Your Own Happy it has a huge section on helping your child be considerate of others and lots of exercises to help them put this into practice.
Further reading on how to raise a respectful child – you might also like my post on how to raise a mindful child how to get teens to reduce their screen time
and my mindful monsters review
