I raised my kids with a fundamental respect for self determination, personal responsibility and a basic sense of decency. Except for my youngest. Who is definitely a fascist. He’s the white sheep in a black sheep family.
Empathy and self-respect. Just about anything else falls under those two core ideas.
Those are both crucial. How do you try to instil self respect? I think a lot of people could use some pointers!
Teach your kid to know their values. Talk about those values. Let them know that some values aren’t worth compromising. Let them know that they won’t lose friends for being true to themselves. Or if they do, they probably weren’t good friends anyway. Don’t only show how you do that in life, talk about it. I think a lot of parents do the “lead by example” and expect their kids to figure it out. They usually do, eventually. I was an adult before I really understood a lot of the values my parents were trying to instill in me. I tried to keep that in mind when raising my son, and as far as I know he never got in trouble or made shitty decisions because of peer pressure. Not that he never made shitty decisions, but he’s grown up to be a pretty good person.
By “values” I mean things like keeping your word. Backing friends to your own self-sacrifice. And the obvious, hard work, taking the time to do it right, etc.
Those are great values! I’m a big believer in backing your friends to your own self sacrifice
Respect, kindness, charity, patience, honesty. Self-expression, cooperation, curiosity, tenacity, cleanliness, punctuality. Duty, ambition, citizenship, compassion, and self-respect.
Only a wannabe, but my parents were pretty bad so I’ve put a lot of thought into it.
I get that, and I love your commitment to your future children! It says great things about you
One of the things that guides my parenting is that I’m not raising a kid, I’m raising a future adult. I really try to give her choices and let her develop her own sense of self (as much as a 3 year old can). I want her to be adventurous, empathetic, independent, and a critical thinker.
