How to teach your kids respectful behavior

These days, parents often complain about disrespectful behaviors of their children. Incidents like kids/teens arguing with their parents or adults, throwing tantrums, using foul words, showing disrespect to others are now very common. Children seem to getting used to dealing with others in a disrespectful and rude manner. Given the prevailing situation, parents should teach children how to be respectful right from childhood.

Here are some tips for parents to follow while teaching respectful behavior to their children.

• Before teaching your kids respectful behavior, you should first set an example for them to follow. Do remember that if you behave disrespectfully, your children will follow suit. It is very true that children closely emulate their parents’ behavior. So, do check your behavior first; it will ultimately help you teach your kids how to show respect.
• Teach your kids good manners. Encourage your kids to use polite words, such as ‘Please,’ ‘Excuse Me,’ and ‘Thank You’ in their day-to-day conversations. Again, you need to display good manners in your daily activities so that your kids can easily adopt them.
• When it comes to teaching kids respectful behaviors, it is very important for parents to get into alignment with each other. Both fathers and mothers should work together to prepare an action plan, which will help them teach good behaviors to their kids.
• At times, your kids may throw tantrums, show disrespect or even argue with you. In such a situation, do not lose your patience. Stay calm and quiet, as this is not the right time to talk about your kids’ behaviors and consequences. Later, when the situation is calm, speak with them about what happened and how this could have been handled differently. At first, do not lecture on right behaviors, instead listen to them carefully and understand what made them behave like this. Thereafter, you can explain how better they can manage such a situation without behaving rudely.
• Set realistic goals while teaching your kids respectful behavior. Do remember that things won’t change overnight. Practice and perseverance will make your effort successful.

Image Credit: freedigitalphotos.net