Teaching Children Respect
It seems like children today have a general lack of respect for their peers, adults, and teachers. Some of this apparent lack of respect may just be the perception of adults with kids today and how traditionally each generation views the next generation as not being as respectful they had been while growing up. There may be some validity to that argument because, after all, kids do need time to mature and many grow up to be adults that are respectful of others. However, many of us, especially those in large cities see a lack of respect becoming more and more of a problem. Let’s look at the ways children are learning a lack of respect:
Teaching Children Respect with No Respect for Them
Teaching children respect by showing them a lack of respect just doesn’t work and, the unfortunate thing is that this is how many adults today are trying to teaching children respect. When adults try to “teach” children respect by criticizing, lecturing, shaming, ridiculing, screaming, threathening, and similar ways, children will shut down their thinking. In fact, children learn by the environment around them and, if this is the environment, this is exactly how they will learn to act.
The ESPNization of Sports
Today’s youth see many athletes on television being bad examples of respectful team spirit when they are berating opponents and by obnoxiously celebrating their own individual efforts. While is it important to show enthusiasm, the enthusiasm being shown is disrespectful and does not celebrate a team spirit. This behavior can now even been seen trickling down at little league games and other youth sporting events by children and parents alike.
Pop Culture
Pop culture has an effect on children because it generally is lowering the standards on proper social behavior. Anything from cartoons, music videos, to movies are more and more encouraging young people to be disrespectful and ignore common courtesy gestures towards people.
Teaching children respect is something that every parent needs to take greater ownership in working with their children. Being a good role model by showing respect to others is a great start as kids learn to mimic the behaviors of their parents. To take learning these skills a step further, BoostKids is an excellent third party resource teaching kids respect and social skills by showing their peers in real life social situations handling themselves the wrong way and then the correct way. Since children learn what they see, BoostKids is right on target to give kids a great foundation to grow into respectful teenagers and adults.
How BoostKids Can Help:
BoostKids is a program that can help increase a child’s confidence by teaching social skills to children and building their character. BoostKids has been and is currently being taught in schools, non-profit organizations, and after-school programs. The program is now available as an at-home training program for children and their parents. The key training tool of the BoostKids program is an interactive CD-ROM that shows kids the right-way and the wrong-way to handle social situations. They learn from real kid actors in real-life scenerios!
For more information about what’s included in BoostKids, click here.
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By Charlie Copp - Executive Director of Boost Kids
About the author: Charlie Copp is the executive director for BOOST KIDS, an interactive CD ROM-based program for kids ages six and up, that teaching children social skills and strong character across the nation. His work with BOOST KIDS confirms what Copp has always believed: that kids and teens are hungry for character-building life skills, and with them gain the confidence needed to succeed in the classroom, on the playing field, in their interpersonal relationships, and on the job.
