^{Photo by Juan Pablo Serrano Arenas}

What are the crucial values that children must practice at an early age? They need to be taught life lessons they will carry until they grow up.

Parents often think about the essential skills our children must learn when they reach the age of five—preparing them for school, like counting from one to ten, taking a bath, and changing clothes on their own. While children should learn to master these essential habits, there are other things parents need to impart to their kids. Life values, for example. Another way to teach your children is to read a children’s picture book by Calauti. They will come in handy as they grow up.

1 – Integrity

During the developmental stage, children are still capable of lying. It is heavily influenced by their peers and fueled by their desire to be accepted. Parents need to instill the will, to be honest in all things to impart to their children. If your child develops the ability to tell ‘white lies, it may come from a feeling of not wanting to get in trouble.

As a parent, you must teach the child to tell the truth. At the same time, it must come from a place of gentleness, ensuring that they know that lying will bear heavier consequences than honestly admitting the mistake. On another note, children should not be too afraid of receiving punishment even after being honest. And the most efficient way to teach them about integrity and honesty is to practice them yourself. If your children see your honesty in every situation, it will influence them to do the same.

2 – Willingness To Take Turns

Children will eventually learn to be territorial and possessive of what they believe is their property. However, life would still test their attitude by giving them situations where they most likely have to share or take turns with other kids. Although it would have been easier to let them share without many complaints, they will never develop a constant effort to practice generosity. A better way to teach them to share is to let them join role-playing games like tea parties or stuffed toys. If they are into board games, they will also learn the concept of taking turns by trying to play them.

3 – Valuing Respect

This is a virtue that every human being has to learn for a lifetime continuously. You, the parent, must lay the groundwork for kids to learn the essence of respect. And the best time to do it is now. Once your child understands that respect is given and not demanded, they will absorb the concept quickly. But first, you should practice how to respect your child. Avoid imposing it onto them because they can pick up your actions and might feel off about giving you the same amount of respect you’re trying to demand. Children will always mirror what adults say and do, but they mostly pick up on the latter. That’s why aside from parents being the defining factor for children to learn respect, other adults around them are just as important.

Once your child learns basic courtesy and respect and applies it to others, that is when you can teach them the complexities of that virtue. Some examples are your children respecting other people’s opinions, preferences, and responses.

4 – Act Of Kindness And Consideration

Kindness goes hand in hand with respect. However, we should realize as adults that children will subconsciously retaliate when crossed. They need to be constantly reminded about how crucial an act of kindness is, regardless of how they were treated. This will nurture patience in the face of confrontation and adversity, especially when they experience a response opposite to what they had expected. Staying kind in certain situations enables them to de-escalate tension and restore peace among each other.

Being considerate allows children to exercise empathy and make them realize the consequences their actions might have on others. They will learn how to reflect rather than deflect. An easy trick you can do to teach them is to practice having an open conversation.

5 – Forgiveness

Please do not lie. Forgiving is even harder for adults like us to do. Extending forgiveness to others who have offended or hurt us deeply is not easy since we’d instead hold onto that grudge until the time we get to pay it back. But we should do better in not teaching this way of life to our kids. They, too, get hurt emotionally and may feel anger or resentment at an early age. Forgiveness is a lifetime journey, so your children should practice it early. If they choose to nurture that anger, they are the ones who will be left damaged in the end. The same goes with teaching them that when they do something wrong that hurts others, they, too, must apologize and own up to their mistakes.